


Little Orphan Spider

by FatandNerdy30



Category: Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Family, Father-Son Relationship, Mother-Son Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-21
Updated: 2019-05-27
Packaged: 2020-03-09 08:11:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 39,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18913000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FatandNerdy30/pseuds/FatandNerdy30
Summary: Peter Parker is an orphan living in a group home in Queens after both his aunt and uncle were murdered in a robbery gone wrong.His life gets better at night when he becomes Spider-Man, helping all the little people who need him.And then Tony Stark comes in and messes it all up with a publicity stunt, offering Peter a chance to stay with him for two months..Now Peter has to figure out how to keep his secret safe, since it seems every Avenger is after Spider-Man!





	1. Chapter 1

Queens was a busy city, especially Peter Parker, A.K.A. The neighborhood friendly Spider-Man. The boy had just fought off a mugger from getting an older woman's purse and was currently turning down a churro, which she demanded she buy for him. In the end, he wound up eating it while sitting on a fire escape. He sighed as he swung his legs back and forth. The sun was setting, which was a good thing, but that also meant that crime would be getting worse.

He was daydreaming, in his own world, when the sound of thrusters snapped him out of it and he looked up to see Iron Man hovering in front of him. 

"Hello Spider Man," the suit greeted him pleasantly. "Guess what I'm here for."

Peter sighed and shook his head, glad he'd pulled down his mask before. He enjoyed torturing the great Tony Stark by keeping his identity a secret. So many times the man had tried to find out who Spider-Man was, but every time he failed. Peter especially loved it when the man sent the drones after him. Peter would lose them in a matter of seconds, thanks to his 'spidey-sense'. 

"Hello, Stark," the teen lowered his voice accordingly, trying to sound older than he was. "Long time no see."

"Yeah, enough with the pleasantries. Tell me who you are, and come join the Avengers."  
Peter jumped up onto the rail, standing perfectly still. 

"Sorry, Stark, but I've told you before, and I'll say it again. I don't want to join your group of super-losers. I want to stay on the ground...protect the little guys when you guys bring trouble here." 

It was all a lie though. Peter wanted desperately to join the Avengers....but then that would mean that Tony Stark would learn he was only a teenager. In fact, he had just turned fifteen last week. He considered it a dream to get an invitation to the man's team...but he was afraid that the man would laugh at him.

"I've come to you for months, ever since you showed up, and given you the opportunity of a lifetime, and every time, you shoot me down. And I'm getting a little tired of it."

"Then stop coming." Peter said in all seriousness. It hurt him every time Mr. Stark came around to have to say no to the one thing he'd wanted his entire life, or at least since what happened happened. "I've said no every time you find me, and I'm getting sick of saying it. I have a life that makes me too busy to join the Avengers, so I'm sorry. My answer, for the thousandth time, is no." With that, Peter held out his arm and quickly shot a web, using it to swing past Tony Stark, who watched his every move. 

"Fine. Have it your way. I'm done asking."

Peter looked back to see Mr. Stark lifting a hand, the light in his palm glowing. Was he going to shoot him? Now scared, Peter shot another web, flinging himself to the side and around a building. Again and again he threw himself out of the man's sights, until suddenly his senses tingled on the right side and he dodged just as a drone was about to tag him. 

"Hey! That's cheating!" he called back to the man.

"Well I don't play by the rules." Tony responded, sending another drone.

"Oh shit!" Peter barely dodged the second drone, but was ready for the third and the fourth, swinging out of the way. "Well excuse me, Mr. screw the rules I have money!"

Tony smirked at that. He liked it, and he liked the fact that this was the longest conversation he'd ever held with Spider-Man, even if it was just flinging insults back at him. "How are you doing that?" Another drone was sent and dodged. Was it mirrors? Or sensors, like in the Iron Man suit? No, it looked...homemade. But, then again, his suit was homemade too.

"Just like a tootsie pop, the world may never know!" Peter was not having fun and also was getting close to home. He had to end this. Now. "Sorry Stark, but I need to go. It's been fun." Holding his arm up, he shot a web at the man's face, laughing when it covered the man's face protector, blinding him. 

"See you later!" He flung his web out and turned to disappear behind a building, then dropped into one of the windows. Luckily everyone had gone home for the day and the offices were quiet. He stayed there for a little bit, waiting. When Tony Stark passed, he crouched down and waited for a little while before shooting a web and pulling himself out of the building. Checking his watch he cursed. He was late. 

"I'm so gonna have to mow the lawn for a month for this," he groaned as he made his way towards the group home.


	2. Chap

He was wrong. He had to mow the lawn for two months, because on his way home, Peter helped save two little kids from a burning house, making him at least an hour late. He stood in Mr. Martin's office, still pouting from his punishment. Now he was going to have even less time to go patrolling! If only the man knew about him being Spider-Man! Then he'd have to excuse him from doing anything but saving people. Except school. School was the one place that he felt happy, like really, really happy. 

He had a good life in the group home, had a few friends. But, his best friends he'd met in school a long time ago. Ned had been his friend since the first grade. He was closest to Peter, having stood by his side when his Aunt and Uncle had been killed. Peter didn't have parents, they'd been killed in a plane crash when he was a baby and was set to live with May and Ben, until three years ago, when they were both stabbed in a botched robbery while they were on a Valentine's Day date. 

Since then, Peter hated that day. Ned had even tried to get his parents to let Peter stay with them, but Peter knew it would be too hard on the family to raise both Ned and Peter. Especially, when he got bitten by that spider six months ago. 

That's when all this craziness started. He was on a field trip to Osborn Labs with his class, and they were in the chem lab when the spider came from the vents. It started with a high fever that had led to a very sick and weak Peter, which wasn't anything new. He was usually sick before the bite. 

Then came the development of muscles, and we're not talking stringy wimpy muscles, but Peter actually got abs overnight. He'd fallen into a fever induced daze and woke up looking like a professional athlete. When he told Ned, the boy didn't believe him, but Peter had dragged him into the bathroom and pulled up his shirt with a shocked expression on his face. After that, Ned had started to keep track of the boy's abilities. 

The most shocking one to develop had to be the ability to crawl up walls and hang from the ceiling with his bare hands. Peter had found out he could do that when he'd had a nightmare one night and woke to find himself staring down at his bed. The next day he and Ned had tested his new power in an alley way, where Peter simply walked up a building in his bare feet. Peter said it was freaky. Ned thought it was the coolest thing he'd ever seen.   
Now, Peter was starting to develop a new sense, almost like a sixth sense that let the boy know when and where something was coming from. 

It only happened when his life was in danger, like when he'd run from Tony Stark earlier that day, which he was loathe to tell his friend about. Ned would tell him that he should tell Mr. Stark his identity and join the Avengers. Peter had told him he actually thought of doing that on more than one occasion, but then his age came into play. The same doubts as before came back and he sighed. 

"Bored, Parker?" Mr. Martin asked, raising a brow from behind his desk.

The boy's eyes widened and he shook his head. "N-no, Mr. Martin...Sir."

"Good, because I'm not done. You've been coming in late for too long, Mr. Parker. This makes the third time this week, and the fifteenth time this month."

"I'm sorry, sir! When I go over to Ned's place, I lose track of time!"

"Hm. Well, that's going to be stopped. And, your phone. Give it to me." The man held out a hand when Peter didn't move.

The boy reached into his pocket and handed over his state issued cell phone. It was given to all children in the system once they turned thirteen as a way for them to contact the person who ran the facility they lived in and as a way to track their movements. Peter had knew this and had Ned hack the phone to say he was at his best friend's house whenever he was on patrol, which now he'd have to tell him to change it to the group home for now.

"I should tell you you're not allowed to see Ned for a while, but your friendships are important, to both you and the state. So, you can continue to talk to him in school, but no more for a month. You will come straight home and do your homework and go to bed." Mr. Martin shook his head. "You're a smart kid, Peter. Very smart. I would hate to have you go down the wrong path. Oh, which reminds me, you got mail today." Reaching into his desk, he handed the boy an unopened letter. "Open it."

Peter grabbed the envelope and upon reading the name Stark Industries on it, his hands started shaking. This couldn't be real...Could Mr. Stark have found out who he really was? He ripped open the letter and pulled out the neatly folded paper, almost ripping it as he unfolded it and started reading:

_Dear Mr. Parker,_

_Congratulations on being accepted into the Intern Program here at Stark Industries. Your school participated in mock exams this past month and we were so impressed by your score that we decided to make an exception for you. Your Internship begins this Monday at 3:30. You do not need to bring anything but yourself Congratulations again. We expect great things from you._

_Pepper Pots, C.E.O. of Stark Industries_

Peter read and reread the letter over and over, still not believing what was written, or typed. How could....it was supposed to be a fake exam! The school wasn't even supposed to even send it in!

"Good news?" Mr. Martin asked, holding his hand out for the letter. When the boy handed it over, a smile brightened his face. "This is wonderful, Peter! Oh my God....who knew that a child under my care would become an intern as Stark Industries? This is like a dream! Okay, new plan. You are allowed to go to the internship, but you are to come home right after. Am I clear?"

Peter could only nod, still in shock. 

"Okay," the man laughed. "As a punishment, you're to go to bed without dinner tonight, ok?" The teen could only nod and went to leave the room, but suddenly became himself again.

"What? No dinner! But I'm starving!"

Mr. Martin only pointed to where the bedrooms were, and chuckled when the boy left the room, shaking his head. What was he going to do with that boy?


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning, Peter ran to school with a huge smile the entire way. He couldn't wait to see Ned to tell him the news! Once in the building, he went to his locker and opened it, but had to move his hand at the last second as it was slammed closed. 

"Hey Penis."

"Hello Flash," the boy groaned. Why was it every time Peter was having a good moment, it was dashed? It was like the bully could feel Peter's good mood and had to destroy it.

"What's that tone for? Aren't you glad to see me?" The dark skinned boy smirked, leaning against the lockers. When Peter was silent, he frowned and pushed the boy into the lockers, hard. "I asked you a question."

Peter merely fixed his bag and turned away, but Flash apparently wasn't done. The bully grabbed his shoulder and turned him back around, slamming him into the locker again.

"You leave when I tell you to leave, Penis." Flash smirked at him. "Where were you running off to, anyway? You don't have any family. You're just a pathetic. Little. Orphan."

Peter had to control his anger. He knew that if he punched the bully, he would put his full strength behind it and wind up killing him. And Peter did not want that blood on his hands. So he just stared at the ground, until a teacher told them to break it up as the bell rang. The boy was more than glad to get away from his tormentor and made his way to class. Happy feeling, gone.

English was first, and the teacher Mr. Orr had the hearing of an Orc, so Peter couldn't tell Ned any news, just pass him a note. Once that was over, the only classes they had together were Chemistry, P.E. and lunch. Once the bell rang for lunch, the boy ran to the cafeteria to get on line. The staff knew him well by now, and they gave him extra every day, the cashier just giving him a wink and letting him through without paying extra, which with his new metabolism, he really appreciated. Toting his loaded tray, he sat at the usual table, already half done with his food by the time Ned came in.

"Hey Peter," the boy brought his lunch out of his backpack, frowning at his sandwich. "I don't like meatloaf. You want it?"

Even before Ned finished the question, Peter had the sandwich in his mouth, moaning. "How can you not like this? Your mom's cooking is so good compared to everything else!" He finished the sandwich in record time and sat back to munch on an apple slowly. 

"So, your note said you had news?" Ned had opened a chocolate snackpac.

"Oh yeah!!" Peter pushed his tray away and leaned in, eyes sparkling with excitement. "You remember those mock tests we took for Stark Industries for career day? Well, someone at the company got their hands on them apparently...and they gave me an internship!"  
Ned dropped his pudding, spoon clanging against the table. "What!?" The whole lunchroom glanced at them.

"Shh!!!" Peter hushed his friend. "I got an internship with SI!"  
The other frowned. "But, doesn't Tony Stark own SI?" His friend nodded. "And, Iron-Man has been trying to find out who Spider-Man is for months now."

Peter's face went white. How could he forget that? "Oh no...." He sat back. "But, I doubt that I'll be seeing the Tony Stark, anyway. I mean, what's gonna happen, he's gonna adopt me?" The two stared at one another, then burst out laughing.

"Hey, I got the new Death Star Lego set. Wanna come over after school?" Ned was holding a small lego Emperor Dookoo.

Peter was about to say yes, then remembered his punishment. "No..and I need to talk to you. Come here." He pulled his friend into the bathroom, locking the door. "I came in late yesterday again, which wasn't my fault because Mr. Stark was chasing me! But, I got a punishment. I have to stay in the home when I'm not home or at my internship, and also have to mow the lawn every week for two months." At that Ned made a face. "I know. But, that also means I had my phone taken away. I still have my own room, so maybe you can hack into my phone and set the tracker for home?"

"Oh yeah, sure, no problem. Is the punishment as long as the grass mowing?"

"Yep," Peter said, popping the ':P'. "It really sucks." They left the restroom. "With this new internship, I won't have time for-" He was cut off by an annoying voice and the boy closed his eyes.

"What's this about an internship, Penis?" Flash smirked, his eyes narrowed. "Did you finally get a job picking up trash where you belong?"

Ned's fist was clenching. This had gone on for too long, and now Flash was going to get it! "No! Peter has an internship at Stark Industries!" The hallway went quiet, but that was broken when Flash started laughing.

"Penis? An intern? I know that's a lie, because the company doesn't allow anyone below the age of eighteen to even enter the building unless they're on a school trip!" He pouted at Peter. "Or, is the little orphan so desperate for attention that he'd make up that ridiculous lie?"

Peter grabbed Ned's shoulder. "No, don't. Don't waste your time on him, okay? He'll never believe that someone is smarter than him anyway." With that they walked away with Flash's laughter following them.

Thankfully it was Friday, and school had just let out. Thanks to Ned's computer skills, Peter had been able to be Spider-Man for a little longer before he had to be home. The only flaw was mowing the lawn in the morning on Saturday, which he had to be home early Friday night from his patrol that night. Which bothered Peter. If he had to be home early, that meant more crime would happen if he wasn't out there to stop it. People would get hurt...that's the part that he didn't like. So that night, he tried to sleep, plugging his ears with cotton swabs to drown out the sirens he could have been preventing. 

Saturday morning was horrible, because he didn't get much sleep the night before-for obvious reasons. But, he mowed the small lawn around the home in a matter of hours and was free to sit in his room. And do. Nothing. Peter sighed for the millionth time, staring out his window at the blue sky in the building's reflection that he could be swinging from right now. But, he didn't know if Ned had changed his location....unless...

With a smile, the brunette changed into his suit, and after checking out the window, slipped on his mask. It was midday, the time of day he would never go out in his suit, but he had to ask Ned if everything was clear. He scaled the building as quickly as he could after spotting a couple watching television in the living room apartment, their curtains wide open. Thankfully they were so engrossed in whatever they were watching they never saw Peter, but he didn't want to take the chance. 

He slipped his web-shooters on his wrists, and in no time he was airborne. A little sad he couldn't take his mask off to feel the breeze in his hair, Peter swung from building to building, waving to a a couple of kids as they watched him pass with shocked expressions.This was why he loved being able to be Spider-Man. He loved the people, and the people loved him.

In no time, a very sweaty Peter Parker was slipping through his best friend's window, sticking to the ceiling as he crawled toward the other teen in the chair. Ned was so focused on that he didn't even hear Peter come in. With a smirk, the spider crawled over Ned's head and suddenly appeared in his friend's face with a loud ' _BOO!_ '.

Ned screamed like a little girl and threw his controller at Peter, who dodged it and laughed. "Peter! Oh my God! Don't do that to me!"

Still smiling, Peter looked back at the computer screen. "Is that...World of Warcraft? I didn't know people still play it."

"So funny," Ned snapped, picking up his controller, examining it for any cracks. "What do you need? Wait? Aren't you punished?"

"Which," Peter said, dropping down, "is why I'm here. Were you able to fix my location on my phone so it says I'm at home instead of here?" He shifted a few clothes off his friend's bed and flopped down, feet hanging off the edge and kicking.

"Yes I did. I'm not the guy in the chair for nothing, you know."

"I just didn't know if you did it yet, and I figured I was taking a chance, but it looks like I'm not. Listen, I'll come back tonight and we can build that death-star before my patrol starts, ok? This way I won't have anyone trying to check in on me, which is why I have to get back."

"Okay. I'll see you tonight. I'll get everything ready now. Do you want a plate of dinner? Mom's making enchiladas."

At that Peter smiled. "Yes! Are you kidding, I love your mom's enchilada's. See you later." The teen jumped back to the ceiling and crawled to the window. "Make it a big plate, okay?" And he was swinging back to the home, his mask placed over his face, covering his smile.


	4. Chapter 4

Peter was close to the group home, when suddenly his senses went crazy and he felt his skin crawl, telling him he had a bogey on his...six? Or was it nine? He didn't know, but he had someone following him. With a quick look, he didn't see anyone, but suddenly felt his left side tingle and he swung to the right, watching as a black arrow flew past him. "Oh come on! I don't have time for this!"

The teen sped up his web shooting, looking on the rooftops for the shooter, but he didn't seen anyone. Until, he cornered a building and found himself staring at none other than Hawk-Eye. And he was trained on Peter with a wicked looking arrow. "Holy crap!" the boy shouted. "You're Hawk-Eye! I'm a big fan! But, as much as I'd love to meet you, I have to get home!"  
The archer shot and Peter dodged, much to the man's chagrin. "Just what is this guy?" Peter heard him ask thanks to his enhanced hearing.

"That's not very nice!" the boy shouted as he dodged another arrow. "I'm just the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man!" Another arrow, dodged. "Now stop!" He got out of the man's sights, landing in a nook of a building, trying to control his breathing. If Mr. Martin checked in on him right, Peter was in so much trouble! "What is with these guys?" he asked himself. He was used to Iron-Man coming to 'encourage' him to join the Avengers, but Hawk-Eye was new. He never knew Mr. Stark would try and hurt him! 

Suddenly an arrow thunked into the wooden board next to Peter's head, making the boy yelp. "Hey! You could have put out somebody's eye with that!"

Making sure his web shooters were attached to his wrists-they always were- he waited for the archer to make an appearance again, which he did. Taking aim, Peter shot twice, sticking the man's arms to the wall, his bow useless now. "Sorry! But, if it makes it any better, that will dissolve on its own in two hours! Later!" And Peter disappeared.

But, Hawk-Eye was shocked. He'd heard Spider-Man's voice....and he couldn't be as old as Tony had said. He sounded like he a kid....but, that was impossible....wasn't it?

 

It took twenty minutes for Peter to get home and strip and get dressed again. It was a little painful, since one of the arrows had actually clipped his side, but that would heal in an hour, tops. Peter was just putting his shirt on, when he heard a knock and pulled the material hurriedly over his head, jumping onto his bed just in time for his door to open.

"Came to check on ya," Mr. Martin said cheerfully, smiling softly on the boy.

Peter wasn't sure this man ran a group home for boys, the way he kept his cool all the time. "I'm still here," the teen sighed. "Being bored." The man chuckled.

"I know being punished is no fun, but it is for your own good. And heck, you're the most well behaved boy here, so you're not used to this." Mr. Martin picked up Peter's legs and sat, placing the limbs in his lap. "So, excited about the internship?"

At that the boy's eyes lit up. "Yes! I mean, I couldn't believe it when I read that letter! How cool is it that I'll be working in the same building as the Tony Stark? It-it's been my dream for years to get a job at Stark Industries and help people."

The man nodded. "I know it has. I've read your file," he chuckled. "But, in all seriousness, I'm so proud of you, Peter. You have no idea how much." He patted the boy's thigh and stood, dropping the boy's legs with a smirk. "And, good job on the lawn today. I may have you cut it every week." This made Peter groan and his head fell back on the bed, making Mr. Martin laugh as he closed the door.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Finally, it was nighttime. Spider-Man time! Well, not yet. Peter had told Mr. Martin that he'd finished his homework-which wasn't a lie- and he was heading to bed. But, he was actually heading out to patrol. After visiting Ned, of course. So, that was how he found himself hanging outside his friend's window while his mom talked to him for about forever. She left and Peter crawled in through the open window. "Finally! I thought she'd never leave!"

"Sorry about that. She likes to ask about my week and all that."

Peter felt a pang of jealousy, but pushed it down with a smile. "That's nice, man. Is that mine?" the boy eyed the plate filled with Enchilada's, his stomach growling at the smell.  
"Have at it. She tried something different, but I couldn't taste it."

As soon as Peter took his first bite, he could tell the woman made them from scratch instead of buying the seasoning packets. He was in heaven. "Oh man, these are so flipping good! I wish the home would make something like this. Today it was 'mystery meat'. Meaning, if you got sick, it was a mystery from what." He smiled as he wolfed down the food on the plate, half of them gone in minutes.

"Oh man, that sucks. But, now you're here! So, you ready?" Ned took out the box and Peter nodded, his cheeks puffing out with food. Within the next hour they had more than half of it together, but then the sound of sirens could be heard and Peter looked up.

"I gotta go. Finish it tomorrow night?"

"Definitely. I'll get on the computer and tell you where those sirens are coming from."  
"Cool. See ya!" Peter flipped out the window, shooting a web and started toward the direction they were coming from, hiding the Bluetooth in his ear.

" _Spider can you hear me?_ " Ned's voice came into his ear.

"Loud and clear, chair guy." Peter could practically feel his friend's smile.

" _The sirens are coming from a police raid of a drug ring on Layton and Baxter. You sure you got this?_ "

"Yeah, sure. I can handle this." He sped up, using the wind tunnel created by the buildings to propel himself forward. The night wind was a little chilly at night around the start of spring, the winter still in the air. But, Peter loved it. The tingling of his fingers as he swung from the webbing he created, the exhilaration of being in the air, sometimes doing a flip for the public's entertainment. It was great! 

" _Uh-oh,_ " Ned said suddenly. " _Peter, they've got some pretty bad weapons too. I just hacked the swat teams body cams. They don't look like their from Earth. They look...alien._ "

That made Peter almost pause, but he shot another web, now able to see the red and blue lights in the windows of buildings. "Great. That means whatever the Avengers brought here, left some surprises behind. How many of their messes do I have to clean up? Seriously, it's getting ridiculous." He snapped the webbing from his wrist and landed on a telephone pole, watching the scene. Everything looked calm, until suddenly, it wasn't. 

Peter let out a shout as an explosion went off, big enough to knock him off the pole, but he caught himself and watched the scene. Bodies lay everywhere, some moving, some not. The teen's eyes went wide as he scanned the area. "No..." he whispered. "Ned! Is the camera still working?"

" _Y-yeah, it is. That was the craziest thing I've ever seen! Did you see that explosion!_ "

"Yes, Ned, I did. Now, tell me if there's anyone alive in the building!" Peter could hear the clicking of keys in the background of Ned's muttering before he answered.

" _Yes, there are people still alive. I have no clue how, but-_ "

"Great-" the teen cut him off. "I'm going in to help try and evacuate. Call for paramedics!" He shut the blue tooth off then and jumped to the ground, checking on the guys that were moving. "Help is on the way," he told them. "Just hold tight. I need some help if there's anyone available to go into the house!"

In seconds there was an army of slightly injured police officers moving forward in a hurry, with Spider-Man leading them. Peter took off into the house, going to the more dangerous areas of the collapsing two-story house, where he found hardly anyone. And looking down, he knew why. A hand was sticking up from the rubble, but when he went to pull it out, suddenly it turned to ash. The teen could only stare at the spot in shock. What could have done this?

"Hey, Spider-Man!" a police officer called down the hall. "Are there any survivors?"

Peter could only stare at the spot for a moment, before another call got him to jolt out of shock. "N-no....there's no one alive in here..."

He was shaking. Nothing felt real. Six months, he'd never seen a dead body before, and then he comes across a hand. A hand and he freaks out. "N-ned," he said shakily. "I need to get out of here....anywhere....."

" _Are you okay?_ "

Peter didn't say anything, just walked out of the building. He didn't look at anyone, not the survivors, and especially not the sheet covered bodies.Instead, he shot a web and took off. The minute he was away from the scene, he let the tears out with a scream. He would never be able to forget the sight of the hand, the blackened hand, turning to ash from Peter just touching it. 

He shot a web and another, not caring where he was going, until he was too tired to move. He made it to a building ledge and collapsed against it, his hands able to keep him up as he sobbed. He knew, taking this job, he knew he would most likely see something horrible, but he couldn't predict his reaction to actually seeing it. 

He was repulsed, disgusted....and scared. He was so scared. Even though there was a nip in the air, the teen shook as if he were standing in a refrigerator for hours. Tears were pouring down his face, soaking the mask. He was about to take the mask off, when he felt someone behind him and he pulled it down. "I'm really not in the mood, Stark," he bit in a watery voice.

"Not Tony," A strong voice said and Peter turned, holding his arms up in defense. "Easy. I don't want to hurt you, I just wanna talk." Captain America stepped out from the shadows, his mask not even on, since the whole world knew who he was anyway. "Hey, what happened? Are you hurt?" He reached for the super-hero, only to have his hand smacked away.

"Don't touch me," a voice said that didn't sound like what he'd heard a minute ago.

"Okay, no touching. What happened?"

Peter sniffled. "Nothing that you care about. And what is it with you guys suddenly? I mean, first Tony Stark, then Hawk-Eye, and now finally you? Why are you all so desperate for me to come to your side? Because, I am no no one's side but my own, do you hear me?" He was angry about the weapons, and the destruction they caused. "Why would I want to join a team that set loose weapons like...like..." 

Peter's breathing got heavier and he stifled a sob. "You are all just making things harder for the world we live in! So do me a favor, and stop coming to me, okay? Just, let me protect whoever you consider 'out of your pay-grade'." Shooting a web, he jumped from the roof and disappeared into the night, heading home to rest and hopefully get some sleep.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Sunday morning came slowly for the masked Spider. All night he lay in his bunk bed, climbing up to the top bunk to stay out of Mr. Martin's eye. He wanted to stay away from everyone's eye today. He didn't even think about closing his eyes after the first time he tried, and the hand came alive, grabbing at him. So, Peter just stayed awake reading a book, or studying. Anything to prevent him from sleeping. So when the sun came up, he was more than grateful for his punishment, because he didn't know if he could even stay awake in school. So, he just dozed in bed until he would feel his stomach rumble. He knew his metabolism was crazy fast, so he needed to eat like, all the time, but that day, he just couldn't think of food, even though his body craved it. 

So that night, he snuck out the window again and went straight to Ned's place, waiting outside the window for his friend to tell him it was all clear.

"Whoa, dude, you look horrible. What happened last night?"

Peter swallowed, then his stomach let out such a loud gurgle, it even surprised him and the teen blushed as his friend stood up.

"Hey, no worries. Mom got take out tonight, and I asked if we could get an extra pie. If anything, I'll just say I was up all night gaming or something and ate it."

Peter felt so grateful to his friend when he came back in the room holding a box. "It's a little on the cold side, but I figured it wouldn't matter." He set the box down and in seconds, Peter was tearing into it, half if it gone in five minutes.

When the pie was gone, Peter sighed and sat on the bed with a content smile. He loved living in New York. This city had the best pizza.

"So, I was worried about you last night when you shut your earpiece off...." Ned started, twiddling his thumbs. "I know I can't be there for everything, but, I'm your guy in the chair. If you need to talk to someone, even if I can't give any advice, I can at least listen."

Peter felt bad instantly about what he did to his friend the night before. "I'm so sorry, Ned. I..." he took a deep breath. "I saw something...bad....When the explosion went off, I went into the house with a few police officers. Since I'm light, and can heal fast, I went into the dangerous part of the house...That's when I saw what those weapons can do. The alien ones? There was a-a hand, peeking out of the rubble. 

"It looked black, like it was burned, and I thought maybe I could check to see if the guy was alive....and when I touched the hand, it just went poof. It turned to ash." Tears burned the brunette's eyes. "I've never seen anything like that...and I got scared. Then, Captain America came, and I feel like the Avengers are all chasing me down or something, because everywhere I go, there they are! I can't seem to shake them..."

Ned jumped up and hugged his best friend, feeling the other shaking in his grasp. "I'm so sorry..." he whispered over and over, letting his friend cry it out. When it sounded like he was done, Ned pulled away and gave him an awed look. "But, at least you got to meet Captain America! That is so cool."

Peter sobbed out a laugh, punching Ned's arm softly. "Dork."

Ned called it a win because he got his friend to smile. "Wanna work some more on the Lego we started?"


	5. Chapter 5

Monday morning was a good one for Peter. After talking to Ned, he felt calmer and was able to get some sleep. So, with a yawn, the boy got dressed and chucked shoes on when he heard a knock and Mr. Martin poked his head in.

"Morning, new Intern!" the man said with a happy smile.

Peter jumped at that. It was today!? "Oh shi-oot!" he corrected at a look from the home's director. "I completely forgot about the internship!" Now excitement and terror fluttered through his heart, but the boy couldn't keep a smile from his face.

"That's good! Breakfast is being served right now, so hurry up, or you won't get your usual amount. I seriously don't know where you put all that food," he said good naturedly.

"Well, growing boys and all that." Peter grabbed his bag, checked his web shooters were there, and headed downstairs. As usual the 'cafeteria' was packed full, all the boy's talking about their classes, or just goofing off. It made Peter smile, but it also hurt his too sensitive ears. He had to know if there was a way to turn down his hearing, or if it would stay like this forever. 

Getting online, he smiled at the cook, who winked at him and gave him a huge helping of oatmeal with three slices of toast and a big scoopful of eggs. Peter downed the school-type food in minutes and took off, following a few of the boys that were going to school.

The minute the brunette walked into the hallway, he noticed everyone was staring at him. At first he thought there was something on his face, and wiped his mouth with his sleeve. But, when nothing came off, he had to wonder what they were all staring at until he saw Ned talking to MJ. 

MJ was a pretty girl, with curly brown hair and eyes that shone like topaz in the sun. But, Peter didn't like her at all. Nope. So when he got closer, and Ned turned, he smiled at them both.

"Hey loser," MJ said with a smile.

"Hey yourself. How was your weekend?" Peter felt a familial connection with his two friends, and felt like he could be himself with them no matter what. But, that wasn't all the way true. MJ didn't know his secret, so he still had to be careful.

"Protested for women's rights," the girl said, pulling a book out for homeroom.

"Played Counter Strike," Ned lied. He was helping Peter all weekend with his patrolling. The bell rang and the trio made their way to their first class, and sat together. 

 

The class went by fast, the two boys arguing about who was the better Anakin, but decided to call it a draw when the bell rang. "See you, losers," MJ said with a smirk, shaking her head at the boy's antics. But, that frown turned into a frown when she noticed Flash coming towards them. He had a look on his face that was meant for his target; Peter Parker.  
Peter's senses tingled, but he didn't dodge the punch that was aimed at his back and let it hit him, crying out when his kidney took the brunt of the force. 

"Hey Penis! Getting ready for your fake internship?" the bully smirked, pushing the boy into a locker. "I'm sure the whole school's gonna want proof. So, maybe you can get the Avenger's autographs, huh?" He smiled evilly. "Or, maybe one of them will take you in! Awww, little Orphan will finally have a mommy and daddy! Or, they'll see how dumb you are and kick you out on the first day." With a final punch, the bully left, his friends laughing around him.

Peter was boiling at the bully's words. Even though he was used to them, he still let them get to him sometimes. The bell rang and Peter forced himself to calm down. "Come on, guys, we'll be late." He walked away from his friends, head hanging as he walked towards his next class.

After that, Flash left him alone, mostly.

 

At lunch Ned continued their Star Wars debate, which was quickly settled when MJ threw a roll at both their heads and calling them 'super nerds'.

Flash was still bothering his victim during the day, calling Peter Orphan instead of using the boy's name, but the brunette refused to listen. When Chemistry class finally came, Peter felt relaxed and sat at the table in front of the beakers and Bunsen burners. This was his world, his calling. 

So when the teacher started droning on about a new chemical compound they were making, Peter was busy mixing more spider webbing in the bottom drawer of the desk, making sure to take notes as well as mix. Once the class was finished, Peter quickly put his mixture into a brown bottle and slipped it into his backpack. Chemistry was the last class for the day, and then he was free....but he wasn't. 

Peter longed to be above the buildings as he usually was after school. But, he was still excited to be going to his internship, even if he wished he were going through the air, it was still pretty cool.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Peter stepped off the subway at the bottom of Stark Tower and had to stare up at it. It was so beautiful, with the sun bouncing off all its windows....he had to wonder what it would be like to just hang off the top and see everything. He had been wanting to do so for the longest time, but with Mr. Stark on his tail recently, he didn't want to chance it. So, he had to go in through the front door.

The boy walked through the automatic doors and had an automatic geek-gasm. Technology was all over the place, from the walls to the scanners, an Irish voice coming from each one after she had finished scanning each person. "This is so cool," he whispered. He wasn't looking where he was going, when suddenly he walked into what he could have sworn was a wall wearing clothes, but when he looked up, he stared into a frowning face.

"School tours aren't scheduled," the slightly chunky man said in a firm voice.

"O-oh! I know, um...I'm here for the, uh, the internship? Y'know, Peter Parker.." He waved at the last part. The man didn't move, just continued to stare at him, until Peter got his school ID out, showing it to the living wall. "Here? See? Peter Parker..." He flashed a smile, then it disappeared.

"Front desk," the man said, his voice still firm.

"Okay! Thanks!" 'Geeze that guy was happy,' he thought as he walked towards the front desk.

"Bag," another security guard said suddenly, pointing towards the scanners. 

"Oh, oh yeah. Here ya go." The teen gave his bag over, glad he didn't have his spider-suit now, and walked through the scanners, waiting for a moment while the blue light ran over his body.

"Clear. Oh, and congratulations on starting your internship, Peter Parker," the voice said, making the boy smile.

"Thanks, scanner lady!" He grabbed his bag once it was cleared and walked to the desk. "Hi, I'm-"

"Yeah, I heard Friday. So, you're the kid everyone's talking about, huh?" The blonde woman smiled, making Peter blush cutely. "Adorable. You already have an ID made." She handed over said card and gave the boy a wink, making him turn even redder. "Good luck, hun."

Peter nodded and left, his face hot as he got into the elevators with a bunch of suit wearing adults. That's when it hit him, he didn't even know where to go! He was about to call out to the desk lady, but the doors closed at that moment and the elevator started moving. Peter looked around nervously, wanting to ask one of the adults, but they were all on their phones and he didn't want to bother them. 

So, he just rode the elevator with them until they all got off and followed them. He looked around for someone to ask, but he couldn't find anyone. So, he walked down the hall a little bit until he came across what looked like a gym. Seeing people inside, he peeked his head in. "Excuse me?" he called quietly, and nothing. "Excuse me!" he called a little louder and waited. 

Finally the people in the gym stopped what they were doing and Peter found himself staring at three Avengers. He stiffened when he noticed Hawk-Eye and Captain America staring at him, his face going white.

"What's a kid doing here?" Steve asked Clint, who shrugged.

"Damned if I know. Hey, kid? You lost?" It took a minute for the kid to nod and the man had to smile. This kid was cute. "What are you looking for?"

"Um..I'm looking for the, uh, the in-intern labs? I st-start today.."

Steve furrowed his brow. That voice...it sounded so familiar, but he couldn't place it.   
"Wait, intern? How old are you kid?" Clint put his staff down and walked over to the boy, noticing how he flinched back.

"Um, I'm in high school....but, here's my ID! I, I just didn't know where to go." Peter blushed. He couldn't believe he was this nervous, when he'd already met Hawk-Eye, even though the man didn't know it. "I got lost, and there was no one to ask."

"Why didn't you just ask Friday?" the archer asked, his brow quirked.

"Leave him alone, Clint. He's just a kid on his first day, I'm sure he's nervous. Friday?"

"Yes, Mr. Rogers?" the AI answered.

"Can you please tell-what's your name?"

"Peter," the boy answered quickly.

"Peter here where the intern labs are?"

"Of course, Mr. Rogers. Please go to the elevators, Mr. Parker. I will take you to the correct floor."

Peter was about to leave, when he turned back, his face heating up again. "Thanks, Captain, sir. Have a good day." and he hurried down the corridor back to the elevators, knowing full well the two were still watching him.

"I didn't know we were hiring kids," Clint said, shaking his head. "How old is he, twelve?"  
Steve chuckled. "He has to be pretty smart for Tony to take him on in any way. Just leave it at that," he said and walked back to the weights.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

"Intern labs," Friday's voice told Peter. "Thanks...Ms. Friday, was it?"

"That is correct, Mr. Parker."

"Oh, you can call me Peter, if you want Ms. Friday. Thank you so much for bringing me here."

"You're very welcome, Peter. Have a great first day."

"Thanks Ms. Friday! Talk to you later!" Peter rushed out of the elevator and into the lab just as it turned three-thirty, panting from having ran all the way. "Hello?" he called. A second later, a blonde woman came out from behind a machine and her eyes turned quizzical.

"Hello, sweetie. Are you lost?"

Peter was getting so tired of hearing that today. "No, ma'am. I'm here for the internship?" The boy held up his pass. "Peter Parker. It's my first day."

It took a minute for the woman's face to light up. "Oh, you're adorable!" she squealed, running over to him. "I'm Gwen Stacey, Peter. It's nice to meet you." Instead of shaking his hand, she reached out a hand to ruffle the head full of curls, giggling as the boy made a face. "I'm glad you made it on time. I was starting to worry."

"Oh, yeah...I got a little lost," Peter hurriedly said, then blanched. Why did he tell her that? Why couldn't he made something up that sounded cooler? 

"You too, huh? I admit, even I get lost in this building still. It's just too big!" Gwen lead the boy over to a station and pointed to a lab station, fully equipped with everything Peter had been wanting. "So here's where you'll be working, though, I will tell you, Mr. Stark made your project himself."

At that Peter almost fell over. "Wh-what?!" he cried, his eyes getting to the size of dinner plates.

"Yeah. He told me he called it the 'Baby Monitor'. It's just because you're so young, he didn't want you getting into the more advanced or dangerous projects."

Peter's happiness ended right there. He made a face and groaned. Why did everyone have to make his age a thing? He could handle more advanced things...

"I'll leave you to get settled. The coats are over there, but I don't think we'll have any that fit you, though...." Gwen tapped her pen to her lip. "But, I'm sure we can come up with something, so just take the smallest one for today." Gwen turned when she heard a voice calling her and sighed. "I have to go, but just have fun, okay?" She ruffled the boy's curls again and walked off.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tony Stark was angry. No, he was more than angry. He was pissed off. Fury had called him, reprimanding him for not getting the annoying spider on their side yet, or even finding out who he was...which was also getting on Tony's nerves. He had been trying to find out for months who the man was, but every plan he made, every drone he sent after the crime fighter, was dodged or foiled. He couldn't explain it. He pulled up a video of his last encounter with the spider and examined it.

It seemed as if the small man knew exactly where Tony's drones were coming from without looking. So, he must have a radar, right? Or, could it be something else? Tony looked over the footage again and again, but each time left him further from any clues, and it was starting to get to him.

"Tony? You okay?"

The man turned to see his fiancee standing in the doorway, a cup of coffee in her hands. She walked over to him and handed the mug to him, looking at the video. "Spider-Man again, huh? Any luck?"

Stark groaned, letting his head hit the table, wincing at the pain. "Not a single fucking thing....and I'm getting angry. Fury's been up my ass about this for weeks now, demanding I find out who this guy is, or at least turn him over to our side....but every time I try, the guy tells me the same thing."

Pepper made a sympathetic noise, her fingers running through his hair. "Then why not tell Nick that the guy doesn't want to join and leave it at that?" Tony gave her a look from the table that screamed 'hell no'. 

"Why? Because it's personal now. I will find out who this guy is one way or another." Now his stubborn pride was getting in the way, but Tony didn't care. When he set his mind to something, he didn't let it go. The man sat up and sipped his coffee. "But, what do you need? Besides to bask in the glory that is me?"

Pepper rolled her eyes at that comment. "This came from the King of Jordan today, about the little 'incident' that happened in his country that's now worldwide news?" She handed her fiancee the tablet which already had the article on the front page.

"I have no memory of this, so it didn't happen. Tell Air Jordan that I was simply on vacation with my beautiful fiancee and I have no recollection of it besides the glorious moments in the bedroom."

The strawberry blonde smiled and smacked his shoulder. "He wants a formal apology for destroying a temple, and as your CEO, the public also needs something that says you care, because that temple was being made into an orphanage."

At that, Tony had a spark of guilt. "Then, apologize for it, and send the country some money to make a better place for the kids."

Pepper shook her head. "Nope, not good enough. We have to show the world that you care about the children of the world, and throwing money at them isn't enough."

Tony didn't like where this was going. "No...no, no, you know how I feel about kids. They get messy and their hands are always sticky, plus, how am I supposed to take care of a kid when I need parental supervision?"

Pepper laughed. "I agree with that, but this has to be done. I'll make sure it's an older child that can take care of themselves, you'll be there to offer some guidance and a job once the month is over. Unless, you wind up wanting to adopt the child." 

She giggled at the face her fiancee made and shook her head. "Who knows, fatherhood may do you some good. I'll make the announcement and all the arrangements. You will have to keep the child for at least two months."

Stark groaned at that, but then something clicked. "Hold on...the new intern. I remember reading something about him...Friday, pull up the file on the new intern." 

"Yes, boss," the Irish AI said, putting said file up on Tony's desk.

The man's eyes read the boy's information and he clapped his hands. "Yes! This, this is the kid, definitely. Plus, he's a little genius, so it will be like talking to a past me."

Pepper walked over and made a noise at the boy's picture. "He's adorable! Look at those curls! Ok, I'll make the arrangements." She kissed Tony on the cheek, feeling his rough stubble against her lips. "I'm sure he'll be great, Tony," and she walked out, already pulling out her phone to set things up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Peter had logged onto his monitor and the first thing to show on the screen was the screen saver, which was a large pacifier installed with a baby crying. The boy's face went red as the other interns laughed at their own stations. He swore Mr. Stark was just trying to kill him of embarrassment. Clicking off the screen, he logged in, creating a password he would remember, and got straight to work on his first project. 

It seemed easy to do, create a system firewall. So, he set to work, trying to code in an algorithm, but he was denied at every turn. What the heck? He tried again, when suddenly Friday's voice came from his station.

"I'm sorry, Peter, but that is certain programming is off limits for the Baby Monitor file."

Peter groaned. How did Mr. Stark expect to get things done? But, then he had an idea. "Ms. Friday? I'll need your cooperation, if that's okay? I want to override at least a few of the 'protocols' in my file so I can work some projects. Can you help me?" The AI was quiet for a minute.

"I don't think that's a good idea, Peter. Mr. Stark has made this system to keep you safe."  
"Yes, but I've been doing more complex algorithms in school for years now. Please? I want to impress Mr. Stark, show him what I can do."

"Fine. But I will inform Boss on what you are doing."

"No! At least, not yet. Let me get this done, then you can tell him?" He looked at his monitor with big, brown puppy eyes. "Please Ms. Friday?"

"Fine. I will help you, but I will inform the Boss when it's complete."

The boy smiled and hacked into the system, finding his protocol file. He wished Ned were here, this was more his thing, but he had to do this alone. So, hacking into the folder, he found the level of security and balked. He was at a zero? How old did Mr. Stark think he was? Shaking his head, Peter changed them all to level two's, to keep Ms. Friday off his back, and backed out. "Okay, done. Thank you, Ms. Friday!"

"I still do not approve, Peter."

"I know, but I had to do something!" With that, he got to work on the firewall, now so more challenging than it had been with the lowered security level. When he was finished, he had a full firewall in place, protecting all of his future work. 

He smiled happily as he double checked his work before pushing back, looking around the room for Ms. Stacey. When he found her, she was in a group that was arguing over something. Curious, the boy got up and walked over, peering over one of the older intern's shoulders.  
Oh, they were fighting about how to figure out a problem. He studied the equation for the chemical compound, completely in his element before going over to an empty board, still unnoticed by the group. He wrote down the problem, studied it for a moment, then got to work on it. Ten minutes later he was standing in front of a fully solved equation. "Uh, hey guys? Is-is this what you were fighting over?"

Gwen turned and looked at the whiteboard with a stunned expression. "Oh my God!" she ran over to the board, her eyes flitting to everything. "This is....you solved it!" She gave Peter a hug, which in turn made the boy blush a bright red. 

"Oh, this is going to make Mr. Stark so happy! And, once he finds out you solved it, he'll definitely want to meet you! Oh, exciting!" She went back to her group, who were all giving Peter a thumbs up, which the boy blushed harder at, and he scurried back to his station alone.


	6. Chapter 6

By the time it hit six-thirty, everyone was tired. Peter had finished his assignments early and had found an glove from a prototype bot and had been programming it to wave and do all types of signals every time someone spoke to it, when a buzzer went off, scaring the teen.

"It's time to give up for the day," Gwen called to the room. "Have a good day and we'll see everyone on tomorrow, okay?" She looked towards Peter and winked. "I'll be speaking to Mr. Stark after you leave, since he gave us the problem to solve. I'm sure he thought it was a challenge."

The teen stiffened. Tonight? She was going to tell Mr. Stark tonight? 

"See you tomorrow." Gwen waved to the boy as he hurried out of the room. "He is so adorable."

Peter was running out of the building by then, getting a 'have a good night, Peter' from Friday, which made him feel good. He ran to the front door and rushed out, desperate to get out and fly about the city on webs. Skipping the subway, he ducked into a secluded spot in the Empire Gardens and suited up. Pulling on his mask, he shot a web to a tree and ricocheted off the branches in order to shoot a web higher and he was in the air.

Above the city, past all the smog, the world was clean. Flying through the air, he couldn't hear any of the sirens above the wind, he could only see skies and the reflection of the clouds off building windows. This was his world. 

On his way home, Peter stopped a bank robbery and helped save a cat in a tree, so he landed in an alleyway next to the group home and got changed quickly before walking to the front door and going in. "It's only Peter," he called tiredly, locking the door behind him before hearing footsteps come running towards him.

"Peter!"Mr. Martin cried, sliding to a stop in front of the teen, who stared at him with a shocked expression. "What did you do today?!"

The brunette raised an eyebrow in confusion. "I-I don't think I did anything, Mr. Martin..."  
"Apparently you did something....because I got a call from Ms. Potts.....Tony wants you to come stay with him for two months."

Peter stood there for a minute, shocked, before his eyes widened. "WHAT!?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tony stood before a room of reporters with his 'interview smile', as he called it, on. He held up a hand to quiet everyone down, and the room slowly stopped talking. "Welcome, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for coming on such short notice. I've called this meeting to tell you that, I, Tony Stark, will be taking in a foster child."

Instantly the room erupted with people yelling, camera's going off, you name it, until Tony held up his hand again. "Please, please, I'll answer any questions you may have....yes, sizzling hot blonde, your question?"

The woman blushed slightly. "Yes, Mr. Stark, how do you plan on taking care of said child, when you yourself, act like a child?"

"Hmm, that's a good point, but I believe I will have the assistance of a Mrs. Stark-Potts-name in question- for the task of looking after the poor, unfortunate child. Next. Mr. Bulbous Nose."

The man Tony pointed to gave him a stern look before standing. "Mr. Stark, why are you choosing to do this now, so soon after the tragedy in Jordan?"

"Oh, well, I felt so bad about what happened. I sent them a few suits to start building again, as well as am fully funding the project myself. I just feel like if I can make the world a better place for one child, then that child, in turn, can help another, and so on and so on." Ugh, he hated this mushy crap. "Okay, Mr. Giraffe-neck?"

"Very funny, Mr. Stark. Have you already chosen a child, or will your CEO be choosing one?"

"Ah, a good question. Yes, I have already chosen a child, who I will not be naming until he gets here, which I will then hold another press conference and introduce him to the world. I believe that is all the time I have for now, so until the next meeting, have a good day!" He smiled and waved as he stepped away from the podium, his face falling as he stepped behind a curtain. "This 'bleeding heart' persona is going to kill me," he whined to his fiancee, who smiled and kissed him.

"It won't hurt you to open your doors to one child in your life. Who knows, it may leave you wanting another one."

"Now that, I like the sound of, because if we want one, we'll have to practice. Like, a lot. Let's get to that now, okay?"

Pepper laughed and pushed the billionaire away. "Later. For now, I have to make sure Peter's things are delivered here and everything we ordered for him arrives on time. You know, Tony, you didn't have to go to these extremes for him. I mean, his own hot tub in his bathroom? Really?"

Stark shrugged and hooked his arm around the woman's waist as they walked. "I just feel bad for the kid, you know? I don't know what kind of a life he's had, so I want to give him everything."

"And have him loose it after two months," Pepper argued.

"Well, it's not like he can't come and visit. Plus, he'll always have a room when he has to stay over for the internship, right?"

The woman sighed and shook her head. "Okay, okay. You win. Just, don't blow the kid up, okay?"

"Who me? Nah, I'll just take an arm, maybe a hand." The two laughed as they strolled down the hall to the elevator. "But, I knew this was the kid after what Gwen told me last night. She came running into my office and told me the kid had solved the equation that both Bruce and I have been having problems with, you know the one that will turn chemical matter into a solid mass? It was the best news I've ever heard. I see great things for this kid. Great things."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning, Peter had never been so nervous to go to school. He knew by now everyone knew about the guardianship by Tony Stark, having seen the press conference on the news when it was aired live. And when he walked into school, suddenly, everyone was talking about it. They had to wonder, who was the lucky kid that had won the lottery for the next two months? It was starting to get to Peter, so when Ned waved at him, he couldn't help but look pleadingly at him.

"Hey, did you hear about....you already did. What's the matter?"

"Ned....it's me," Peter whispered. "I'm the one that Tony Stark wants to take in!"

Ned's face dropped, but then he smiled. "Dude! That is so awesome! You get to meet Tony Stark, and live with him!" The boy gasped. "Do you think you'll be living with the Avengers? Like, do you think they live where you'll be? How cool would that be?"

"Ned, stop! No, that would not be cool! That would be the opposite of great! If I'm there, in a high security tower, then how is the other guy," he pointed to his backpack, "going to get out and go to Queens?"

The other boy's face fell again. "Oh yeah....I forgot about," he made a motion to the bag, "him. Oh man...that's gonna suck. Or, maybe I could like, you know, be the guy in the chair and hack into the tower, or at least your room, and shut off any safety wires or things like that?"

Peter's hopes began to rise. "Do you think you can do that? Because, I don't have a choice in the matter. Mr. Martin made the decision for me last night, telling me it will be a great experience, you'll learn so much from Mr. Stark, blah blah...." 

He took a deep breath and closed his locker. "But, I'm also scared, man....what if Mr. Stark finds out about me being, you know, and his kicks me out? Or worse, he gives me to Dr. Banner to experiment on?"

Ned's eyes widened. "Oh, dude that would be so cool! You would get to meet Bruce Banner! Oh wait, the experimenting thing isn't so cool..."

"I know! I don't know what to do! Spider-Man can't not patrol the city....So, when I go, try and break into the system, ok? If you can't, maybe I can figure a way to sneak out..." His friend nodded.

"Of course man, yeah. But...I bet you Tony Stark already has a room all set up for you. Do you think you'll be able to have friends over? Because, I've always wanted to see what it's like to be in Stark Tower..."

Peter smiled, so happy for his friend calming his nerves. "I'll ask, but I'm sure Mr. Stark will have no problem with it." And they walked down the hall towards their first class.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When the day was over, Peter made his way to his internship, leaving his bag with security and stepped into the scanner.

"Hello, Peter," Friday greeted him. "I heard the good news, and I'm happy for you."

"Thanks, Ms. Friday. But, how did...oh wait, stupid question." The boy held his hands out and was scanned.

"Clear. I look forward to hearing you more often, Peter." Her voice was following him into the elevator where again, he was surrounded by people in suits. The teen hurried off the elevator, already feeling like this was going to be the worst two months of his life where he had to sneak around twice as much in order to be Spider-Man. 

With the scanners, he wouldn't even be able to bring his suit into the building! He would have to leave it in an alleyway and sneak out at night in order to get it to his room. And that would suck, because that meant he would have to climb all the way down the tower.

The labs came into view and Peter let out a sigh as he walked in, smelling chemicals and other compounds around him, instantly feeling at ease. 

"Peter!" Gwen came running up to him to ruffle his hair. "I talked to the boss last night, and he said that was the greatest thing he'd ever heard in his life and he can't wait to meet you! But, he said he won't be available until this weekend, for some reason, I don't know why. Are you okay with that?"

Peter just nodded, shifting his eyes to his station. "Y-yeah, I'm fine with that. Um....I'm just gonna get to work..I'm sure there are more problems for me to solve and stuff."  
The blonde nodded and ruffled the boy's curls again. "And, if we have trouble, we'll call you!"

Peter nodded with a fake laugh, collapsing in his chair and turning his monitor on. Suddenly, the peal of a bike bell rang out and a tricycle stood on the screen, making the boy roll his eyes. But, as soon as he clicked to log in, the face of the Tony Stark appeared on his screen. 

"Not bad, kid, heard about what you did, very impressed. I am not, impressed, however, that you thought you could hack into my system in order to change something that I set for you. That's very bad, Peter, very bad. I am disappointed in you, but, I am willing to give you another chance, since you're so young. I'm going to leave the security where it is, at a two so you can, what was it Friday said, oh yeah, 'get some work done'." 

The man used air quotes and eye rolls. "Easy on the hacking, there buddy, but it was a good job that my firewall didn't catch you. Good job. Stark, out."

And just like that, the recording, or whatever it was, ended and all of Peter's files came up, but something was missing. He went into the start up menu, but he didn't see any of the computer data files. So that meant, Mr. Stark had them taken off his personal computer so Peter couldn't hack it again. Which was fine, because now that his security was higher, he could use the means to get things done. It was a point for him, in Peter's book.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And that was how the week progressed. Peter would go to school, then go to SI, and then later, for an hour or so, would patrol the streets of Queens. That was it, until one night, it became more. It was while Peter was swinging from a tree that he sensed something coming and he quickly dodged the drone that flew at him, shooting webs at it, taking it down. "Nice evening, huh Stark?"

"Yeah, great. Listen, I'm going to ask you again to tell me who you are, and how you do the things you do. See, there's this guy that doesn't like secrets being kept from him even more than I do, and you're starting to get on his bad side. Which, I will say is a little safer than getting on mine, but still bad. So, save yourself some pain, come with me and we'll take off your little sock mask and I'll help give you a real suit."

That caught Peter's attention, but, he knew he couldn't do it because of his age again, and the weapons he'd already seen. Weapons that could make someone disappear. "You see, Stark, if your boss had come to me, I wouldn't be so stubborn. But, since he sent you like his little errand boy, I'm gonna have to say no, again. Take your little toys and go play in your room." 

Peter knew the man was mad due to the silence, but he'd just about had enough of Mr. Stark on his tail that week. And now, he told him someone else wanted to meet unmask him? That was pushing it. "Have a good night, there, Stark. See you around. Or not."

The boy shot a web to the nearest building and casually flung himself off the tree he was perched in. The nerve of that guy! Suddenly, his senses went haywire and Peter looked back to see an army of drones, each one of them trained on him. "Oh shit!"

He dodged like his life depended on it. Every time one of the drones came too close, he would hit it with a web, making it unable to track his movements in it s camera. He was halfway through when suddenly gold and red flashed out of the corner of his eye. This was bad.

"Stark, I haven't made any threat to you or your boss!" His voice sounded scared now, cracking a bit. "Stop this attack!"

"Oh? But you have, Spider-Man. You've resisted me, and when the other guy got involved, him, and that made you a threat to the Avengers, and to the world. Who knows if you'll ever end up on the wrong side one day? You may not mean to, but without us, you most certainly will."

Peter's eyes widened and he shook his head, shooting down another drone. "No! I'll never side against someone who wants to hurt people! And I will never fight against the Avengers!"

"Not good enough." Tony lifted a hand and the drones began shooting tasers.

Peter screamed as one clipping his leg, but he dodged almost all of them, crying out when one happened to hit him. Why didn't Mr. Stark believe him? He was one of the good guys! Finally, Peter spotted a park filled with trees and had an idea. He dodged several tasers and a few blasts from Mr. Stark himself, and headed for the trees. The drones followed him, until Peter shot a few webs, forming a giant net that the drones all fell into, sticking to the chemically made webs.

"Take that!" the teen shouted, but was too early in his victory, because no sooner did he finish, did Tony Stark shoot a blast behind him. It was too quick for Peter to dodge completely, and he cried out when his side suddenly was on fire. He checked to see if it was burning, but there were no flames, only blood and a singe mark on his suit. 

The teen looked back at Mr. Stark with fear and hurried to get out of the situation, tears almost falling from his eyes in fear. "Please stop, please stop!" he whispered, using every trick that he could to get away from Mr. Stark. He tried webbing the man's face, but he dodged it.

"Need to try something new, Spidey!" the man called out.

Peter, in a sudden move that would have normally gotten him killed, shot a web behind him and used it to get behind Iron-Man, and around a building too fast for the man to comprehend. Using the shadows to his advantage, Peter put as much distance between him and Mr. Stark as possible before diving into a small nook at the top of a building, folding himself in a way that he fit, nestled in the shadows.

The boy stayed like that until he was sure Mr. Stark had stopped following him, but he checked the area just to be sure, before hurrying home.  
What a week.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was Friday, the day before he was supposed to go be a publicity stunt for Tony Stark. But..he would get to see inside the tower, and maybe even inside Tony's lab. He would get to see what the man had in store for him when they next met outside. It would be a major help...if he could even get to be Spider-Man, that is. He was worried about that part. But, he was sure that if he could convince the AI, Ms. Friday? He could get out of his room easy. 

A pain in his healing side made the boy wince and he lifted his shirt, checking on the shiny, burnt flesh. He had advanced healing, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt. He prodded it, wincing when it hurt more. "This sucks," he sighed. He couldn't believe Mr. Stark had attacked him! He had already 'fixed' the hole in his suit with blue fabric he'd found in a dumpster in the back of a fabric store, but that didn't do anything for his side.

A knock on his door made the teen pause in his examination and grabbed his backpack, picking up a shirt to make it look as if he were packing. "Come in!" he called, folding a tattered old shirt, which had happened to be his Uncle Ben's. It still smelled of him and his Aunt May.

"Hey kid, wanted to see if you're okay." Mr. Martin came in, the Asian man looking around the room. "I'll make sure you still have your own room, you know, if you come back."

Peter smiled. "Mr. Martin, this is just a temporary publicity stunt. I'll be back before you know it and everything will go back to the way it was." It hurt Peter to say that, but it was the truth. He was nothing but a stupid stunt Tony Stark was using to make the public believe he 'loved the children' or something like that. 

He didn't want to be in the public's eye, being stared at with pity. That was the look that he hated, like whenever an adult found out he was fifteen and still in the system. They felt so bad for him, but they knew they wouldn't do anything for him. He would stay in the system until he turned eighteen, and then he could be Spider-Man full time.

"Yeah, but you never know, Peter. You're a great kid, and if anyone could make Tony Stark fall in love with them, it's you." The man slung an arm over his shoulder in a one armed hug. "Just remember, be yourself, okay? This could very well be your last night here." He tightened the hug. "Love you, Pete," the man whispered and left the room, leaving Peter to finish packing his few things.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pepper was standing in the living room early Saturday morning. Today was the day that Peter would come live with them, and she was excited. For the longest time she'd been hinting at Tony that she wanted a child, but the clueless dummy hadn't even gotten the hint, not even at the press meeting when she practically spelled it out for him. He just fell into his jokes, as usual. And even though Pepper wasn't experienced as a mother, she still wanted the chance to see what it was like.

Last night she had checked Peter's room to make sure everything was set up right. In her annoyance, Tony had ordered a bunch of stuffed animals, claiming the kid was like twelve, which Pepper knew he had just turned fifteen. The woman, of course, got rid of most of them, leaving only the cute Avengers one, which she thought would be funny. There were game systems with every game she could think of that a boy would like....She just hoped Peter liked them.

"Hey, hot stuff. Whatcha doin'?" Tony walked behind her, sliding an arm around her waist.

"Just thinking...what if you were right, Tony? What if we're not ready for this? Or, what if we're more than ready, and in the end we can't give Peter up? That's what I'm afraid of..." She looked at her fiancee with tears in her eyes. "I don't want to go through that pain, Tony..."

The billionaire sighed. "I know what you mean, but, if you want the kid after the whole two months, I'll pull some strings. Make him my legal ward or something. How does that sound?"  
Pepper gave him a watery smile. "It sounds good, but I was hoping for something a little more."

"I know," Tony sighed. "But, I'll do what I can to keep the kid if you want to, even bribe him to call you mom."

This made Pepper laugh and she slapped his arm. "I won't let you spoil him, you know."

Tony pouted. "But I thought that was the job of a...father.....oh I think I'm gonna be sick." He bulged out his cheeks and held a hand to his mouth.

"Stop, Tony. I know you're nervous. But, I think you'll be a wonderful role model." They kissed, only breaking apart when Friday's voice came over the loudspeaker.

"Boss, Peter Parker is on his way."

The man took a deep breath and held his hand out to Pepper. "Ready to meet Peter?"

"Definitely." the woman said, taking the hand and walked to the elevator to go down to the press conference.


	7. Chapter 7

The car pulled up to Stark Industries, and Peter was suddenly confused. Mr. Martin said he was going to take Peter to Mr. Stark's home....wait, did he live in the tower? Whoa, how dedicated to his work was the man? 

"Okay, so I'll walk you up to the building," Mr. Martin said, fixing his tie in the rear view mirror. "And you'll be introduced to Tony Stark and Pepper Potts. You'll take a few pictures, and then I'll leave you to it." The man looked back at the teen, who was looking out of the window with a worried look. "What's the matter?"

Peter took a deep breath. "It's just....It's stupid, never mind. Let's get this over with." Without letting the man get off another word, Peter grabbed his bag, with all his worldly possessions and got out of the car, slamming the door a little hard. But, he was angry at Mr. Stark, using him like a poster board for himself. He hoped the public didn't buy this. 

He waited for Mr. Martin to lock the car, not giving him a chance to ask about the incident in the car before he began walking forward. Suddenly there were bright flashes going off in Peter's face, messing with his senses so bad he almost fell. He went blind, seeing bright flashes even when he closed his eyes.

"Mr. Parker!" a gruff voice yelled and Peter felt himself grabbed. At first he fought, remembering not to use his strength. "I'm here to help you," the voice said and the teen opened his eyes. The security guard from his first day at the internship stared at him, blocking him from anyone taking pictures. "I'm Happy Hogan. Mr. Stark ordered me to take care of you."

Peter almost laughed at the man's name, but his head was killing him. He allowed Happy to pull him into his arms, Mr. Martin right behind them as the security guard pushed his way into the crowd while hiding Peter's face, which the teen was glad for. By the time they made it inside, his head felt better and he pulled his face a little away from the slightly pudgy chest he was pressed into. 

Hundreds of reporters were listening to something Tony was saying, they were laughing when the man smiled, but Peter didn't pay attention, as he was being ushered into a room. When the man let him go, the teen felt bereft, but suddenly he was greeted by a beautiful blonde woman, who lit the room with her smile.

"Peter," Pepper said, holding her hand out. "It's so good to meet you. How was the trip?"

The teen nodded. "It-it was fine, thanks...umm....why the crowd?"

"Oh! I'm so sorry about this, but Tony said they would get to meet you before you began your stay here, I don't know why. I would have liked it better if you were just left alone, but Tony is...Tony." She stepped away and got a good look at the teenager before her. The picture didn't do his adorableness justice. 

He had curly hair that was gelled back, but there were still a few stubborn curls that had spring up, which made her smile. He was looking around nervously with puppy dog brown eyes, that when they landed on her, she wanted to hold the boy close. He was small and thin under his sweatshirt, but a quick move from him showed her he had some muscle, which was good. He was perfect. "Okay. It's almost time to be introduced. You look perfect. I'll have Happy get your stuff later and-" She was interrupted when Peter held up a backpack.

"This is all my stuff," he said sheepishly.

"O-oh," the woman said in surprise. She hadn't been expecting that.

"Yes, unfortunately that's all I can afford. The state only sends me enough to get the bare essentials. Hello, I'm Martin Lee, head of the group home." The Asian man extended his hand, an odd look in his eyes as he drank in the tower.

"Hello, Mr. Li. It's nice to meet you, and thank you for agreeing to let Peter stay here for the two months." She pulled her hand away and wiped it on her dress, getting a tingle from the man. "Ok, well, you two follow me, please? We'll introduce you, Peter and then get you settled."

Peter was dragged onto a stage in the lobby of Stark Industries. He looked out at the crowd with a pale face, a nervous smile plastered on his mouth. Tony Stark hadn't acknowledged him yet, and that suit the teen just fine. He felt like he was going to puke.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I really do feel bad about the disaster I caused in Jordan, and like I said last time, I am dealing with the repercussions. But, in the meantime, I'd like to introduce you all to, what I feel is, the luckiest teen in the city." The man turned to see Peter Parker staring at him, wide eyed. "Peter Parker." He motioned for the boy to come up with a smile.

Peter was pushed by Mr. Martin towards the billionaire and he stumbled a bit. He stood next to the man, looking at the ground instead of at the crowd, not yet able to look up and see a sea of pitying faces. Mr. Stark's arm went around Peter's shoulders and he hugged the small teen, shaking him lightly.

"Pete, you ready to answer some questions?" The man turned a curious eye to the quiet boy. It was probably nerves.

"Oh, yes Mr. Stark," Peter whispered.

"Good. First...you," he pointed to a figure in the crowd.

"Peter, how old are you?" the woman asked.

"I-" Peter jumped when the microphones put out reverb, making him and the rest of the crowd wince. "I just turned fifteen," he stuttered and blushed when a few of the reporters 'awwed' at his answer.

"You?" Tony pointed to another reporter.

"What school do you attend?" the man asked in a forceful voice.

"U-um, Midtown Tech....I'm a junior." He noticed Tony pointing to another person.

"Are you happy to be here and what are your plans while staying with Mr. Stark?"

Peter had to think about the second part, but the first...He wanted to blurt the truth, but he didn't want to embarrass Mr. Martin, so he plastered a fake smile on. "I'm so happy to be here, and I'm so grateful to Mr. Stark....I don't have any plans....except to maybe finish my internship, which this will make it easier." A couple of people laughed at that.

"Okay, Peter has had enough. Picture time!" Tony ushered the teen to another part of the stage, posing with him a few times. Then Pepper handed him a picture frame and he smiled at the woman as he read it. He gave it to Peter, who smiled with a red face, and they posed, both of them hold the picture. After a few minutes, he ended the press conference and shook hands with Mr. Martin, which of course got another barrage of flashes.

Peter was ushered off the stage and grabbed his pack from a security guard, hugging it to his chest. The boy made a motion and stumbled a bit. "I-I think I'm gonna be sick," he was able to get out before running to the bathrooms. 

Once inside, Peter ran into a stall and waited a minute, making sure no one was following him and jumped up to the ceiling, sticking to it. He crawled a little bit and found a square that was loose and pushed it up.

"Peter?" Friday's voice called through the bathroom, making the teen freeze. "What are you doing?"

"Ms. Friday, shh!! I'm not doing anything dangerous, I promise! I just need to put something very special up here, okay? And you can't tell anyone! Can you promise me that? Please? It's not a bomb or anything, I swear!" The computer was silent for a moment.

"Alright, Peter. I trust you not to blow up the bathrooms. I won't tell anyone about your secret."

The teen let out an explosive breath. "Thank you Ms. Friday. I owe you one." Quickly Peter stored his spider suit in the ceiling close to the vent leading to the outside then crawled back down just as Mr. Martin came in. 

"Peter? You okay? We're all worried about you."

"Yeah. I'm okay," Peter flushed the toilet and came out, looking better. "I think it was just the excitement and everything. I'm okay now." He went to the sink to rinse his mouth.

"Okay...Well, I'm gonna get out of here. And remember, last time, right? This, this is where you belong....well, not the bathroom, but, in this tower. You were born to live this life." Once Peter was finished rinsing his mouth, Mr. Martin leaned in and gave him a tight hug. "Good luck, bud."

"Thank you, Mr. Martin, but like I said, I'll probably be back." Peter slapped the man's back in a friendly way before they pulled apart.

"I don't believe it. Well, bye for now." The man led him out of the bathrooms and left the building, wiping his eyes as he went. He was really gonna miss that kid.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tony was all smiles as he led the kid towards the elevator, practically bouncing with energy. "You're gonna love it here, and I hope you like your room." 

Peter gave the man a quick smile and stepped into the elevator after him, listening to him ramble on. He glanced at Pepper, who rolled her eyes and mimicked Mr. Stark with a silly face, making him laugh.

"Are you mocking me?" the man asked the two with him. "I'm hurt. Here I open my home to a child, and it's my fiancee that ruins my persona." He held a hand to his chest, a look of hurt on his face.

Peter had to laugh at that, making the man smile. They got off the elevator finally, they all got off and Peter almost dropped his bag. Just walking into the living area and he was already dumbfounded. His eyes flicked to everything all at once. "Wow," the boy was finally able to say. He wasn't used to so much space. When his Aunt and Uncle were alive, the three of them had lived in a tiny apartment, and then when he was moved to the home, it was even smaller. "This is...wow."

Tony chuckled and put a hand on the teen's shoulder. "And this is just the living room! Come on, let's show you where you'll be staying." He walked Peter towards a hall, where multiple doors were spaced evenly left to right. 

"So, I have a request. Until I can tell, you know, the team about this, I'm gonna have to ask that you stay in your room. I'm gonna have to explain why there's a kid running around the tower, which seriously, will not be easy. Especially to Vision. No sense of humor, that guy."

Peter didn't envy him on that task. When he was stopped in front of a door, he pushed it open at a nod from Mr. Stark and this time, his bag did drop. The room was twice the size of his old apartment, with three times as much stuff in it. He was pushed lightly into the room and looked around. There was a four poster king sized bed in the middle of the room against the farthest wall, with a television attached from the end posts, posters of all the avengers littered his walls (Iron man was the biggest, of course). 

He spotted a few toys on a bookshelf that was filled with books, but his eyes were drawn to the big screen television on the wall surrounded by games and systems. "This...this is insane!" the boy exclaimed. "This is the craziest thing I've ever seen!" In a flash he was off, looking like a little kid in a toy store, bouncing from thing to thing, picking up the stuffed toys. Then he opened another door in the room and exclaimed; "I have my own bathroom!?"

This got Pepper and Tony laughing, the woman having to wipe at her eyes. She was so glad they were able to do this for the boy.

Peter finally came out after testing everything-much to Tony's amusement- and went over to the bed. He looked back at the two adults, and then flung himself onto the covers, spreading out as much as he could with a smile.

"Glad you like it, kid. So, um, like I said, stay here, and I'll come get you when I've talked to everyone, ok?" He turned and Pepper sent him a silently mouthed 'thank you', which he returned with a smile. 'I think that kid is gonna be staying here a while.'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tony called a team meeting shortly after he left Pepper in Peter's room. He was waiting in the living room when Steve walked in, a confused look on his face.

"Hey Tony. What's this about?" he asked, crossing his arms over his chest. He hadn't heard anything about a mission or anything like that.

"It's nothing too serious, but let's wait until the rest of us get here, okay?" The man kept tight lipped about what the meeting was about until all the Avengers(that happened to be on Earth), were assembled in front of him.

"We have a mission?" Natasha asked, flopping herself onto the couch, head lying in Clint's lap.

"No, not exactly....Remember what happened in Jordan?" Tony asked, a few of the looks screamed a positive on that front. "Well, Pepper had an idea that would help me save face, and save all the Avenger's asses, again." He threw a look at Steve, who looked away, ashamed. "And, because of that, we have a kid here."

Everyone had the same look of surprise. "What is he here for, a meet and greet or something?" Sam asked. "Because if that's the case, I can go get my flight pack."

Tony shook his head. "No...because the building we knocked down was being made into an orphanage," cue sad looks, and there we go. "I have made a contribution towards the damages, and also....I had to take in a kid," Tony held up his hands when the team all sat up at once, opening their mouths. "Pepper made me do it," he said.

"If you didn't want to do it, you wouldn't have," Rhodey said angrily. "Tell me you didn't want to do it." His friend was quiet for a moment too long. "So you would rather have a kid here, in our way, painting on our walls, then anger the public?"

"And Pepper," the billionaire said. "But, I don't think a fifteen year old will be painting on our walls, anyway. He's a smart kid, and he'll stay out of our way, okay? He's only here for two months, then the publicity stunt is over. Then everything will go back to normal, and we can move after."

"Wait," Steve stood to attention. "The move is being put off for this?"

"Oh, yeah, didn't I tell you? We have to stay in the city, because the kid's school is in Queens, and that was the only way I could get this deal and calm down the public." Tony scratched his nose and clapped his hands. "Okay, well, I'm gonna order lunch. Who wants Italian? Anyone?" Silence met him. "Okay, Greek it is. You can meet the kid when it gets here. You'll love him." Or at least, Tony hoped they would.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pepper had just left Peter alone to unpack his backpack, and the boy had finished a few minutes ago and was now sitting on the most comfortable chair ever. He leaned back, feeling his spine pop in several places and sighed in relief. But, that feeling was short lived. He had to figure out what he was going to do from this point on. There was no way he could just stop being Spider-Man. No, there were too many people who needed him....But, things would get harder from this point on.

He would have to try and lay low....He wouldn't be able to go out as much, and that saddened him. But first, he had someone to talk to. He took out his phone-which had been given back to him that morning- and texted Ned to forget hacking in, because he had an idea thanks to his first day as an intern.

"Ms. Friday?" he called, waiting for the AI to respond.

"Yes Peter?" Came the Irish accent through his walls.

"Umm, I was wondering, I know I've already asked you for a favor this week, but I was hoping you could help me out again? Please?"

"Peter, I will not help you hack into Boss' computer files again," she warned.

"Oh, no! That was a one time thing, I promise!" Well, he may need to do it again, but he would definitely enlist the help of his 'guy in the chair'. "Well....I like to go out a lot....from the windows." He bit his lip, feeling funny explaining this to a computer. "Can you please not tell anyone when I do, or how I do it? It would get me into a lot of trouble, and may even get me hurt pretty bad. Will you protect me?" He hoped that called to some protocols set up in her to protect the tower or the occupants in it.

"I don't think the boss would ever hurt a child, Peter," Friday said softly.

"I wouldn't say that," he said, remembering when Mr. Stark hit him with his blasters on full, singeing his side. "But, please? This is really important...I know I'm asking a lot, and I know I already owe you...." He sighed and ran his hands through his hair, feeling the curls stick up from the action. "But, I'm a teenager! I need my privacy, y'know?" The walls were silent for a long while.

"Ok, Peter. I will help you by unlocking your windows every night if you leave, then when you return. Is that acceptable?"

The teen smiled and nodded. "Yes! Thank you, Ms. Friday!! I really, really owe you now!" He had the feeling that this wouldn't last, though.

 

Tony walked to Peter's room-how weird was that?- when he heard Friday talking to the boy, asking silly questions that made the man smile. He knocked and opened the door, peeking his head in. "Hey, kid, lunch is here. And I want you to meet the team, so there won't be any surprises." Peter's face was priceless as he shot up from the chair he was in, the Thor plushie he'd been throwing and catching, dropped to the floor. 

"Okay, I'll be right there," the teen said with a bright smile.

Tony nodded and left the room, going to the kitchen. "Okay, the kid's coming. Now, no stupid questions," he aimed a look at Clint, who held up his hands. "And, let the kid eat, okay?"  
There were a round of nods and mumbles from around the table as they passed around the many cartons of food. A sound made multiple pairs of eyes look up to see a brown haired teenager standing in the doorway, wringing his hands as he looked around.

"Ah, Peter, just in time to get some before these heathens eat all the food." Tony slung his arm around the kid and dragged him into the kitchen to sit at the table, taking a seat next to him. "I'm sure I don't have to introduce you to the team, but team, this is Peter Parker, was it?" the man looked at Peter, who nodded. "So, he's here to stay for a while, so be nice. I'm looking at you, Clint." Said man raised his hands with a shocked 'what did I do' look on his face.

"M-Mr. Stark, you don't have to do that." He blushed when a couple of chuckles went around the table at the name Peter used for Tony.

"Do what, kid?" Tony looked at his hands to make sure he wasn't about to give Peter something.

"B-be nice and stuff. I know this is just a publicity stunt, and there's no camera's here, so you don't have to act all nice." Peter felt the color drain from his face at the look the table gave him, especially Mr. Stark.

"Act all nice?" the man seethed, closing his eyes, ignoring Clint's whistle. "Kid, I opened my home to you, so if you can't be more grateful, then I don't think this will work out."

"N-no!" Peter cried, getting up suddenly. "I am grateful, Mr. Stark! More grateful than you can believe...it's just, I thought you were acting in front of the camera's, so I assumed you were..." he made a gesture and his head dropped.

Clint was the first to break the silence with a laugh. "Damn, kid! I've been waiting for someone to lay into Tony here for a long time!" He reached over the table and took Peter's hand, shaking it. "Thank you. You're my hero," he gushed and laughed even more at the kid's red face.

Steve looked harder at the kid then snapped his fingers. "I recognize you! You're the kid that was lost last week! You're the one Tony brought in?"

Tony scowled at his friend. "Yes, and I did it because this kid is a genius and shows promise. I want to help him out, that's all." 

"Yeah, sure Tony," Natasha said with a knowing smirk on her face. "You could have helped him out by paying for his college or something."

Peter sat and grabbed a box that was passed to him by Rhodey, the man winking at him. "Don't mind them, they're always fighting about something. Eat, you look like a strong wind could knock you over."

The brunette smiled, opening the box and smiled at the heavenly smell. He started shoveling food into his mouth at record speed, stopping only when his senses screamed at him and he looked up to see everyone staring at him and now two empty boxes in front of him. Peter slowly put down his fork and blushed. "Sorry...." he mumbled, pushing away his third container of food away.

"Don't apologize," Sam said, reaching over to push the container back. "There's plenty of food, and if you're hungry, then eat. God knows if you're eating like that, you didn't get enough where you're from."

This made Peter smile and he grabbed the container, finishing it before sitting back, completely full.

"Apparently, all men, no matter their age, are pigs," Natasha said, Wanda nodding next to her with a smile at the boy. 

"Hey, don't lump me in with a kid," Clint argued with an affronted look on his face.  
"I'll lump you in with whoever I want, loser." She threw a falafel at him, the ball bouncing of his head. Clint was about to retaliate when the sound of laughter stopped him and both he and Nat looked at Peter with shocked faces.

The brunette hadn't laughed this hard since his Aunt and Uncle had passed, and it brought tears to his eyes, but he couldn't stop laughing at the adult's antics, and soon the entire table was laughing and throwing food, much to Tony's chagrin.

"You're all cleaning this up," the billionaire said, then frowned when he got a turnip in the face.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After lunch, Peter had time to explore the tower, and explore he did. But, a lot of doors wouldn't open, not even asking Friday could he get them open. So, he walked along a hallway, until he heard someone muttering and what sounded like clinking of beakers. Curious, he made his way toward the sounds, and soon found himself in a laboratory. He looked inside, his heart beating quicker and quicker with every piece of technology he saw within. This was heaven!

The boy stepped inside and could smell the chemicals and knew he was home in this room. Stepping up to a Bunsen burner, the boy looked around. The person who was in here wasn't anymore apparently, so that meant that he had the lab to himself. Heaven! He thought a minute, then decided to do something simple to get a feel for the lab. 

Something like luminescent silole nanoparticles for chromium detection. Sure, he'd done it before, but it was the perfect starting point for getting to know a lab. So, perusing the shelves of chemicals, he got what he needed and took the luminescence spectra of the tap water he'd gotten and added the chromium in larger and larger doses, adding more fluorescence. He was having so much fun.

Bruce was supposed to go up for lunch, but his work had stopped him, and he left the lab to get a quick bite, and came back to see a strange kid touching his equipment, and doing some good work with it. But, it was just odd that Tony would let a kid up here and not tell him.  
"Oh, hey, Banner," speak of the devil.

"Hey Tony," he replied, making the strange kid jump and turn around with wide eyes, staring at the two adults.

"Ah, I see you've met Peter. Kid, this is Dr. Bruce Banner, you know, when he's not a giant green rage monster."

Peter merely nodded, then went white. "Wait, you mean the Dr. Banner? Oh my god! I read your paper on thermo-denulearization and-this is your lab, isnt' it? I am so sorry, I-I didn't mean to touch anything, but I love chemistry, and Mr. Stark told me to make myself at home and when I didn't see anyone in here, I thought maybe it was a free lab and I am so sorry!!" Peter was gasping for air now, eyes panicked.

"It's okay, but tell me, what were you doing? This looks like some pretty advanced stuff." Banner walked to the boy's station and looked it over. "Luminescent silole nanoparticles for chromium detection. Very advanced."

"W-well, I was trying to get to know the lab a little better, and though, maybe I could do something simple I've done before and just thought of that." He glanced up at Dr. Banner's face, seeing the shock as he looked to Mr. Stark, who had this knowing grin.

"You see, Pete here, is a genius, in his own right, anyway. But, kid, this is Dr. Banner's lab and you shouldn't be in here alone," Tony reprimanded the kid. 

"No, I don't think alone, but if he wants to come up and help me sometimes, he can." This made the kid's face light up and he nodded.

"Yes please! Thank you, Dr. Banner!" Peter then started to clean up, Bruce helping him. They talked and Tony watched, pointing out spots that they missed from a chair, earning him a pen thrown at his head by a frowning Banner.

 

Tony stood outside Peter's door. Dinner had been a while ago, and the kid had eaten three times the amount he should have had to. Tony found that worrisome. He sighed, his hands twitching. He wasn't good at this whole 'saying goodnight' thing. Pepper was better, but she'd already left, telling Tony it was his turn. He blew air through his lips and raised his hand, his knuckles rapping on the door. 

"Come in," came Peter's voice and Tony peeked his head into the room.

"Hey kid. Just wanted to say goodnight and all that, make sure you have what you need. Wait, what are you wearing?" Tony stared at the old looking pair of pants. They fit Peter, but they were so old they had see through spots in the legs and the shirt had a few moth-eaten holes in it.

"Oh this? These are my pajamas. They were my Uncle Ben's at one time...I like to wear them, you know? It keeps him close." True they weren't the warmest things in the winter, but they kept him warm inside. "Uncle Ben and Aunt May were the ones who took me in when my parent's died. But, they were murdered..." tears burned his eyes and Peter's throat stuck. "But, yeah." He crossed his arms over his chest and looked at the floor.

Tony never knew he would learn so much about his temporary guest as he did that night, but he automatically felt...what was that feeling? Pity? No. Compassionate? That was closer. Ugh, this was gonna bother him. "Well, I won't tell you not to wear them, but know we're going shopping, get you some good clothes. I don't want to be standing next to a garbage pail kid."

Peter's eyes went dark, but he blinked it away. "It's okay, Mr. Stark. I know I won't be here for long, and I don't have much room for anything I didn't take with me. Have to leave two dresser drawers empty, you know?" He shrugged.

"Oh...well, we'll talk about it later. So, have a good night. If you need anything, you can just ask Friday where it is, okay?" Tony was about to to leave, but then went back to Peter, bringing him into an awkward push-up like hug for a second, then pulled away with a cough, patting Peter's back. "Kay, goodnight." 

When he left, Peter was standing in his room confused. What just happened?


	8. Chapter 9

The night called to the teen, and he was going to answer it. Running to his window, he slipped his slippers off. "Hey, Ms. Friday?" The teen whispered Can you please unlock the windows? It's time for a little 'teenage rebellion'," Peter said with a smirk.

"Of course, Peter," Friday whispered back, making the boy laugh a little.

"Thanks, Ms. Friday. I'll let you know when I'm back, okay?" He didn't wait for an answer and crawled up to the opening and slipped out, freezing. "Holy shit this is high," he whispered, terrified. "It's okay, it's okay, just gotta get to my suit, then I can web my way outta here...." 

He stared at the city streets, the cars seeming like they were miles below him, the car horns not even sounding from where he stood. The lights around him left the boy vulnerable to the guards and the cameras, so he had to be quick. So, taking a deep breath, he began his descent. Slowly he began to crawl down the glass, feeling his microscopic hairs sticking as he made his way. He was angry that he couldn't even bring his web shooters.

"Why didn't I take the elevator?" he asked himself, shimmying into a shadowed corner to catch his breath. He was halfway there.Just a little more...he made the mistake of looking down and, even though now the cars were closer, they were still pretty far. "Why does he have to have such bad taste?" 

He made his way down, finding the vent that led to the bathroom. "Ms. Friday, it's just Peter," he whispered as he loosened the vent, waiting for an alarm, but none came. "Thank you," he sighed.

"You're welcome Peter. But, I must say I had emergency services numbers on standby. If you do that again, I will have to let Boss know."

"I know, but that won't happen again, okay?" He shimmied inside the vent and reached in, feeling his suit and he grabbed it with a sigh. It was still there. "I'll see you later, Ms. Friday." He shoved his Uncle's pajama's into the vent after folding them. The boy put his web shooters on his wrists and sighed at the familiar feeling. Now he was ready to do what a spidey does.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Spider-Man is on patrol," Natasha said from the doorway of the living room. Instantly the team got to their feet.

"How do you want to go about this?" Clint asked, grabbing an arrow. "One on one, or as a team?"

Tony frowned. "No, not as a team. Fury doesn't want him dead. He just wants him on the team. I don't care about his identity right now, no matter what Fury says. I just want him on the damn team. I've seen the things that guy can do."

Clint raised his hand at this point, getting everyone's attention. "I heard his voice, and I think you're wrong about his age, Tony," the archer said, brows furrowed. Steve looked up and nodded.

"I have to agree with Clint. That night you sent me out to find him, he was crying, and when he spoke, his voice sounded young...like, teenager young."

Tony's face went white and he brought his hand up. Now he felt like shit for hitting the guy-no kid- with his blasters. "Okay, so at least we think we know his age, approximately, maybe. We can work with that, but for know, try and talk him into at least joining us on missions. Got it?" The team nodded then looked at one another. "Who's going?" they asked, almost in unison.

"I'll go," Bruce said suddenly from the doorway. Tony shook his head.

"No, we just said we can't kill this kid. We need him alive, and you're not the best when it comes to that when you get angry."

"Then I'll go with him," Natasha got up, slipping a knife into a pocket. "I'll keep him calm, and besides, he's the best talker out of all of us."

Bruce nodded with a smile. "No Hulking out, promise. I just want to meet the kid is all."  
"Okay, but the rest of us will be on stand-by. Let's go." Tony tapped his chest, the nano-bots building the suit on him as he walked, covering him like a second skin, his face being covered last before he took off.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Martin Li sat in his office doing the last of his paperwork, when hw could have sworn he'd heard a voice whispering. Furrowing his brows, he sat up and looked around, even moving the curtains. No on was in the room with him.

"Martin Li...."

The voice was back! Suddenly, his head started splitting and he cried out. Not again! He whimpered from the pain, searching his desk for the pain pills his doctor had given him. He found them and opened the bottle when he felt a sudden jolt come from his legs. 

Looking down, the group home caretaker saw his pant legs suddenly going an odd white color, and a strange sensation, like sparks running up his legs came from his feet, then traveled up his legs and to the rest of his body. He groaned and noticed his hands were changing a dark, inky black and watched with a scared face as the color crept closer and closer to his face. 

The man tried to scream, but suddenly, he was in a world of black, falling unconscious.  
Mr. Martin Li was gone for now. In his office sat a man who looked like a photo negative, a smirk on his face. Now he could get some things done.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Peter was in the middle of stopping a mugging, when suddenly his senses went haywire and he looked around. What was that? He shot his webbing at the mugger, and delivered the bag back to the woman who sat on the curb watching him with wide eyes.

"Th-thank you!" she said, smiling. She was cute.

"You're welcome, Ma'am!" Peter said, in a deep voice, saluting her, copying Captain America. "Just keeping the streets safe. Take care!" He shot a web and was out of the area in seconds, looking back to see the woman give the mugger a kick before the police showed up. "That was harsh," he winced.

"What was with that voice?" Ned's voice came from his ear, his snickering in the background.

"What!? I have to make it seem like I'm older, or else the public isn't gonna take me seriously. Stop laughing!" Peter fumed, his voice breaking a few times.

"I'm sorry, it's just you sounded like one of those macho G.I.John cartoons."

"Ha-ha. Hey, my senses went crazy before, as if my life were in danger, but there wasn't anything around. Anything on the scanners?" Peter shot another web off, disconnecting with a flip to attach to another building.

"Nothing...wait, there is. It's another drug bust, but...oh shit, those weapons are back, Peter." Peter felt his stomach drop. The last time he'd seen those weapons, people died.

"Okay. I'll go and check it out. Hack a camera and tell me what's going on." 

"Got it. The drug bust is going down on one-hundred-fiftieth and eighty-fifth street. Be careful, Spider."

"Thanks, chair guy. I'll let you know when I get there." 

Peter was silent after that, listening for the sound of sirens. There were a lot tonight, but there was one going in the direction he was going. He aimed to go the way they were, following the police until a flash of red caught his attention and he balked as Ms. Romanoff sped up to stay under him, Mr. Barton riding behind her, his arrows trained on him. "Oh come on! Not this again! I'm the good guy!"

He changed his trajectory, but it did no good when his senses went crazy again and he winced when a high pitched sound rang and messed him up enough for the archer to hit his webbing with an arrow and Peter went tumbling through the air, landing on the ground and rolling to a stop. "Unggh....Gonna feel that in the morning," the teen groaned, holding his side and his head.

"Spider-Man?"

Peter's head shot up and he found himself staring directly at Dr. Banner, who smiled and waved a little. "Hi, Spider-Man...my name's Bruce. I was sent here to talk to you." Another police car passed, making all four people watch it.

"We ain't got time fuh that," the teen said in a deep Brooklyn accent. "We got weapons, bad ones, up on eighty-fifth street. Dat's whea I was headin' before you clowns knocked me outta da sky." Peter stood, wincing when he put his full weight on his leg, his senses still ringing. "If you ain't got nuttin' betta ta do, then leave me to mah work." He lifted an arm, when suddenly a knife was pressed to his back. Looking back, he saw Ms. Romanoff holding it there, a deadly look on her face.

"We were sent here to ask you to join the avengers. If you don't want to, we'll have to force you."

"Tony didn't say that!" Bruce argued, and the woman shrugged.

"I'm improvising. So, you gonna join us? Stark doesn't care about your identity, as long as we know you're on our side."

Peter sighed. "I've always been on your side. I beat da bad guys, don't I?" He shook his head. "I'll tell ya what. Help me take this drug ring down, and you've gotta deal." He held one hand out in front of him and the other behind him. 

Natasha didn't remove the knife, but took the red clad hand. "Deal." WIthdrawing the knife, she hopped back on the bike. "Which way?"

"This way. Yo, Bannah, you need a lift?" Peter turned to the doctor, who shook his head.

"No, I think I'll sit this one out, thanks anyway. I don't wanna cause anything more." He laughed and walked away, towards Stark Tower.

"You lead," Clint said, pointing his hand out. Peter nodded once and stuck a hand out, web shooting from his wrist and he propelled forward.

"Peter this is so cool," Ned's voice came over the device in his ear. "You're teaming up with the Avengers! Does this mean I'm an Avenger, being your guy in the chair?"

"I don't know," Peter responded snappily. The one thing he didn't want to do had happened. He was going to become an Avenger....so that meant that Fury was most likely going to get his number. How was he going to explain why his phone went off whenever everyone else's did? Unless he had Ned give Fury his number, who then would tell Peter. But, the teen didn't think the leader of S.H.I.E.L.D. would like that very much. How was this night going to get any worse?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By Mr. Stark being at the drug ring, that's how. Peter groaned as he landed on a telephone pole, looking down at the billionaire while Ms. Romanoff and Mr. Barton pulled up.

"Hey Tony. What's up?" Natasha clicked a button and her helmet disappeared.

"These guys had weapons that were made by my company," Tony sighed. "We stopped making them years ago, but these assholes got a hold of them and mixed them with Chitauri parts to make them even more powerful. Who knows how many are out there, or how they got a hold of these. I thought my company destroyed any and all weapons we made." He sighed and looked up, jumping a bit when he spotted Spider-Man sitting on a telephone pole. "Oh, welcome, Spider-Man, glad you could make it."

"Stark," Peter greeted, deepening his voice even more. He had to make a voice changer in his suit.

"What's with the team up?" Mr. Stark motioned between Peter and the two assassins.

"We made a deal with him. We help him solve this, he becomes an honorary Avenger," Natasha sent him a sly smile. Peter had to smile He knew a way out.

"And, it looks like ya didn't get ta help me. Too bad, so sad. Maybe next time!" He quickly jumped and shot a web to a nearby building and disappeared.

"Why are you letting him get away?" Tony asked, eyes wide. Fury is going to kill him...

"Relax," Clint said with a grin. "We know what we're doing. Where's he going, Nat?" The woman pulled out a handheld device and pulled up the map.

"West," was all she said and looked at Tony, as he clapped and smiled.

"We got him. And of course, that's my technology, so thank me." Without giving the two a chance to respond, he quickly suited up and blasted out of there. "I'm going to look for more of these weapons. See you later."

"What a show-off," Clint sneered.

"Yeah, but you know we all love him." The man smiled and nodded.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Peter's senses were going a mile a minute. It felt like someone was following him, but every time he checked, there was no one there. He was heading back to Stark Tower when suddenly he remembered, he had to leave his suit in an alley way for the night. He really didn't want to, but maybe he could find an old abandoned building. 

That's when he saw the piers in the distance and smiled. He could leave it under the docks! Wait, no, then it would reek of fish...He knew he couldn't bring it to his room....Ned!  
"Hey, chair guy," Peter asked into the ear device.

"All ears, Spider."

"Do you think I could leave the suit at your place? Because I can't bring it with me to the tower, too many security guards and stuff."

"Really? I'd be happy to help, Pete." Thank God for his best friend.

"Okay, I'll be reaching your place in about five minutes. Wanna come over tomorrow?"

"Peter...you just made my lifetime." Peter just laughed as he rounded the corner, landing on Ned's window, only for his friend to throw it open and pull the other into a hug.

"I think I love you," Ned cried.

"That's nice, Ned....but, let me get the suit off before you soak it." The other boy nodded and apologized, handing Peter some clothes he kept there for sleep-overs.

"When can I come? Will I get to meet the Avengers? Is Tony Stark nice? Does Black Widow have a boyfriend?" Peter laughed at his friend's questions.

"Calm down. I'll call you when I ask Mr. Stark, okay? And, don't ask Ms. Romanoff anything like that, okay? I like you the way you are, all limbs intact." They laughed as Peter got changed. "Okay, I gotta get back See you tomorrow." With that, Peter left and shot a web. But, soon after, he noticed Ms. Romanoff watching the front of Ned's house, flipping a knife in her hand. How did she know he was there? He had to wonder that as he made his way back to the tower, making sure to stay out of the light.


	9. Chapter 9

The sun woke Peter the next day and he groaned, rolling over and pushing his face into his pillow. The ringing from last night had stopped. What was it that caused it? He didn't know, but he was determined to find out. But, sleep first. 

"Peter, it is ten-thirty in the morning. I told you staying out that late would affect your sleep. Teenagers need as much sleep as a newborn baby." Friday's voice came through the speakers of the TV in the bed. The boy groaned, then shot up. Where was he?

Suddenly memories came flooding back and he flopped back. He was at Stark Tower, having been chosen by Mr. Stark to spend two months with him. He snorted. It sounded like Little Orphan Annie, and that made him sick. "Can't I sleep a little more?" he whined to the AI.

"Mr. Barton has also made pancakes for breakfast."

Peter had to wonder about that. How would eating breakfast be like for them now? It wasn't like they knew who he was....or did they? He had to swallow. No, it was impossible. He had to just keep his cool and act normal. So, getting up, he tried to fix his bed-head, but gave up when his curls decided to be stubborn and walked out into the kitchen.

"Well, well, look who's alive," Clint called from the stove. He had on a blue apron labeled 'don't kill the chef' and was flipping pancakes on the griddle. 

Peter merely groaned and shuffled to the coffee pot then stopped. Where were the cups?  
"Here," Pepper said walking into the room and giggling at the sleepy boy. "How did you sleep?" She ran a hand through his hair, smiling softly as she tried to tame his curls.

"Fine, thanks." Peter poured himself black coffee and took a sip, the fingers running through his hair making him groan in happiness. It felt like what Aunt May used to do in the mornings. 

"Good. Tony won't be here, he's working, but I figured that we could go shopping? Maybe get some lunch?" Tony had told her what Peter had said and she knew not to pity him, but she wanted to show him she actually cared. "What do you say?"

The boy stared at her with a confused look before blinking. "Oh, oh yeah....that sounds great. What are we going for?" Pepper smiled.

"Surprise. Have some breakfast and go get ready." She wanted to plant a kiss on the teen's forehead, but stopped herself. It was way too soon for that.

"Okay, thank's, um...is it Ms. Potts, or Mrs. Stark?"

"It's Pepper," she smiled. "I don't want to be called Mrs. anything, okay?" She wanted the boy to call her something else, but once again, too soon. "Call me when you're ready." And she walked out, her phone in her hand.

"Well, that was different," Sam said in a shocked tone. "I've never seen her do that, not even to Tony." That made Peter look at him.

"What's wrong with what she was doing? I...I kinda like it. My Aunt May used to do that in the mornings," he stared at where Pepper had been with a tiny smile.

"Uh oh," Rhodey smiled. "I think Pepper's gonna turn into a Mama Bear." He smiled brilliantly at Peter. "No one better mess with the kid!" The team laughed at the boy's now red face as he tried to hide it in his coffee cup.

"Here, eat so you don't keep her waiting." Clint remembered the meals from yesterday and had piled Peter's plate with pancakes. The boy took the plate and started stuffing the food into his mouth with Natasha and now Wanda watching in astonishment as the plate was polished off in ten minutes.

"I'm done! Thanks, Mr. Barton, they were really good. Where do I put the plate?"

"Just put it in the sink, one of us usually does the dishes." Peter frowned.

"But I feel bad...," he looked around the room.

"Don't kid. Tomorrow night we'll have you do dishes, how does that sound?" The kid smiled and put his dish in the sink.

"Deal. I'll go get ready. Thanks again!"

"Have you ever seen a kid eat that much?" Wanda asked, picking at her one pancake. Everyone shook their heads. She had to watch that boy...there was something about him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Sorry Ms. Pepper!" Peter huffed as he stopped in front of the woman waiting in the building's lobby.

"Just Pepper is fine," the woman said with a smile. "Happy is going to drive us anywhere we want to go," she said, noting Peter's look with a frown. "And we're going to get you some new clothes, no arguments," she said sternly when the boy opened his mouth. "You can leave them here if you want, okay?"

"Wait, leave them here? You mean in the tower?" Peter was confused.

"Yes. You'll still be an intern, right? We're keeping your room in case you're too tired or...something." She looked at the Peter with such a tender expression, he fidgeted.

"Okay," the teen relented. "But, like, I don't need a lot...."

"You'll get what you get," Pepper said in a stern tone, then softened her expression with a smile. "I promise, it won't be that bad, okay? Just, humor me, hmm?" The boy finally nodded.

"All right. Thank you, Ms-Pepper...." With a nod, Ms. Potts opened the door and slid in, patting the seat next to her where Peter sat.

"Happy, usual place, please?" The man nodded, snorting at the red faced teen next to the boss' future wife. The drive was silent mostly, with Pepper trying to make conversation, but the red faced teen would only nod or stutter a one word answer. After a while she gave up, chuckling while looking at her phone. 

When they pulled up to a storefront, Peter could only stare at the fancy place in front of him and groaned. "Here? Why can't we just go to Wood-bridge mall or something?" he asked, his eyes pleading. In the front Happy snorted, shaking his head.

"No. Because of the press conference yesterday, you're face is everywhere right now , so we go into the heavily guarded stores right now. Please Peter? For my sake?" the woman gave him a look and he sighed.

"Ok....If I can have a friend over today?" 

"Deal. I'd love to meet your friends." Peter opened the door and stepped out, Pepper following after telling Happy to come with them. The tall security guard got out, fixing his sunglasses on his face. Together the trio made their way into the store, where they spent pretty much the entire afternoon buying Peter a whole new wardrobe, much to the teen's displeasure.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

It was time for lunch and Peter was sitting in a fancy restaurant on fifth avenue, head in his hand. He was so not used to this. What he wouldn't give for a sandwich from Delmar's right now.

"What's wrong?" Pepper asked, worried Peter had gotten sick.

"It's just....this is very nice, but I'm not used to....well, this," he moved his hand over the table. There were crystal glasses with lemon slices floating in sparkling water next to salad plates which had gold around the edges. "I'm just not fit for this lifestyle, I guess? I don't know....I mean, it's not that I'm ungrateful, I really am! But...this isn't me." He gave a bashful look to the woman who was nodding.

"I get it. So, why don't we get out of here and go somewhere else? You tell me where you'd like to go, and we'll go." Peter smiled at that.

"Okay. I know the perfect place! Happy, let's go!" He shot out of the restaurant with a happy bounce, the man following as close as he could. Peter had gotten into the car, bouncing in his seat as he waited for Pepper, who slid in and Happy got into the driver's seat.

"Where to, Ms. Potts?" he asked.

"Peter?" the woman looked at the energetic boy, smiling at the sparkle in his eyes.

"I know just the place. Delmar's Deli on 2nd and Queens Avenue."

"I know that place," Happy said, pulling out into traffic. "Best sandwiches in Queens." Peter nodded enthusiastically.

Walking into the deli felt just like old times. He turned around, expecting to see Aunt May, but Pepper Potts was standing in her place, and for some reason, Peter was okay with this. 

"Peter?" a thick accent asked and the boy turned with a smile.

"Hey, Mr. Delmar!" He presented a fist to the man, who pounded his own against the boy's.

"It's been a long time, eh? Oh, who's the pretty Senorita. Peter, you been holding out on me?" He winked at Pepper, who smiled and shook her head.

"It's nice to meet you. I'm Pepper Potts," she extended a hand toward him, which the man took and kissed the top. "I hear you make the best sandwiches." The man smiled proudly and nodded.

"Yes I do! And I have just the sandwich for you, pretty lady! " He turned to the man waiting behind the deli counter. "Hazme un español especial, pesado en el español, ¿eh?" He tried his winning smile on the smirking Pepper. "Just you wait. Usual for you, Peter? If I still remember, you like the number five squished really flat." The boy nodded. "And how about you, big guy?"

Happy scolwed. "I'll take the Italian," was all he said, watching his charges move around the store. The teen came back with a pack of gummy worms and a bottle of soda. "You'll rot your teeth like that, kid," he warned.

Peter just smirked, knowing full well because of his advanced healing, his teeth hadn't had a cavity in months.

Once they're sandwiches were made and paid for-at a discounted price for Pepper- they made their way out to the car and started eating. One her first bite, Pepper's eyes went wide. "Holy crap!" she exclaimed, nodding. "Okay, this is the best sandwich I've ever had."

"Told you," Peter said between bites. "It's been ages since I've been here and...hey, what's that?" He pointed out the window, seeing a man standing on top of a building. Peter couldn't really see him, but it looked like his eyes were glowing white. "Holy shit, is he gonna jump!?" Peter put aside his sandwich and watched the man worriedly.

Pepper smacked the boy's arm. "Language. And I don't know, but I hope not. Maybe we should get out and check. You," she pointed to Peter with a stern look, "stay here. Got me? No arguments. Happy, let's go." The driver smiled at Peter and got out, locking the car while he did.

"Oh man, this sucks! I can't get out without the alarm going off. Unless...." he took his phone out and quickly dialed Ned, who's home was less than a block away.

"Hey Peter!" the boy answered on the second ring. "What's up?"

"Hey, I need you to bring the suit out. Can you do that?" He really needed to think of another plan for his suit. Maybe he could build something like Mr. Stark had a while ago where his suit came to him. He would need to work on that in his room.

"Oh, yeah, sure. Do you need your guy in the chair?" Peter's friend asked hopefully.

"Not today, I don't think. But, I will have communications open, okay? Hurry, because I think there's a guy about to jump!"

"Oh shit, really!? Sorry mom! I'll be right out!" and Ned hung up while Peter just stared at the man. He seemed familiar, but yet not. His skin was pitch black and his eyes and hair were a strange white-ish color....he almost looked like a photo negative. Peter saw his friend hurrying towards the corner and smiled. Now he had a reason to leave the car.

Quickly he threw open the door, ignoring the alarm and ran towards Ned, panic on his face just in case Pepper or Happy had seen him."Ned!" he called, waving as his friend turned to him. Said boy handed Peter a small bag discreetly. "Act scared," Peter whispered, and Ned nodded. 

"Come on, you don't need to see this!" Ned shouted over the screaming people, and pulled Peter into an alleyway, where the boy started changing. "How was your first night in the tower?" he asked instantly, dying to hear about the high tech world his friend now lived in.

"Eh, not much to tell. But, the shower is awesome! When you come over, I'll let you play with every button in there. There's even a massage option, where these little massagers come out of the walls and floor of the hot tub."

"You got a hot tub!? Jealous." 

Peter grinned. "Bring your suit and we can go in it. All done. Comms on, I'll see you later!" He leaped and attached himself to the building, scaling it up to the suicidal man. Once he reached the top, he slowly made his way towards the man who looked more and more unreal. 

"Hey, mister! Are you alright?" he called. Instantly he wished he didn't, because when the man turned around, a shockingly familiar face stared back at him. Even though his skin was inky looking, Peter could recognize his only parental figure from the home. "Mr. Martin?" he called, his voice cracking. "Mr. Martin, what's wrong? What happened?"

The impostor smiled, his teeth a creepy white against his black mouth. "Mr. Martin isn't here, Spider-Man. Only Mr. Negative." He flipped a knife out, his eyes starting to glow. "And I have been waiting for you...You have been getting in my way, bringing your friends the Avengers into my business, causing me to loose money.." He clicked his tongue like you would at a bad puppy. "Not good. Now it's time to make sure you don't interfere again."

Peter was still in shock of seeing Mr. Martin that he didn't register what it meant when the man ran at him and suddenly his senses blared at him to move and the boy dodged the knife at the last second, feeling it graze his suit. "Oh man, I just sewed this!" He shot a web and flung himself away. "I can't fight Mr. Martin!" he said to himself. "No matter who that guy says he is....what do I do?" 

Suddenly an arrow came out of nowhere, embedding itself in Mr. Martin's hand and the man cried out.

"NO!" Peter screamed, seeing Clint on the neighboring roof, with Natasha jumping across to land near Peter. 

"What's the matter, Spider-Man? Can't handle a little blood? You chose the wrong profession then." 

The boy shook his head. "It's not that!" he cried, forgetting to mask his voice, words thick with emotion. "That man, he runs a group home near here!" He looked back, not noticing how Natasha's eyes widened.

It couldn't be....he sounded very much like the boy Stark had just brought into the tower. But, that was impossible...


	10. Chapter 10

Mr. Negative scowled at the archer as he pulled the arrow from his hand, the wound already starting to heal itself. "Lucky shot," the man snarled. "But it won't happen again." He threw the arrow to the ground and held his knife towards the man, black energy starting to pool at the handle.

Peter watched and gasped when his senses were suddenly going haywire, the ringing coming to him with a vengeance. He cried out, holding his head tightly, flashes going off in front of his eyes. That was the noise? 

It made him want to rip his mask off, but not with Mr. Barton and Ms. Romanoff here...He just had to suffer in anonymity. Peter suddenly heard Mr. Barton cry out and looked to see the archer fell over, holding his arm which was bleeding. "N-no," he whimpered, his head killing him.

"What's wrong with you?" Natasha called to the web-slinger, a worried tone in her voice.

"His...knife!" the boy cried. "It's emitting...a noise....hurts!" he cried out and fell to the floor, curling up in a ball.

"What's the matter, Spider-Man? Was my theory correct and you can't take harsh noises? Too bad!" Mr. Negative ran towards the vulnerable boy. But, at the last minute, he was kicked away by Natasha, who had anger in her eyes.

If her hearing was correct, that was Peter, the small boy that she shared a home with now. A part of the family, and the youngest member of the household. And no one attacks a child and gets away with it while she was there. She attacked the black and white man, throwing knives at him, which he seemed to dodge a lot of them, flipping over himself, almost like an acrobat. 

"Weak!" the man smiled, charging his knife again, hearing Spider-Man cry out in pain, his smile becoming bigger. He was going to take down part of the Avengers today!

Suddenly, a proton blast came from nowhere and Mr. Negative was hit in the face, feeling it already healing and scowling at Iron man floating in front of a large jet. "Hey there, photo-reject. You hurt my friends, now it's my turn."

Tony propelled forward, punching the black and white man across the roof. He turned to see Clint coming towards him, holding a bloody arm. "It's about time you got here. The spider is out of commission," he jerked his head to the crime fighter who was curled in on himself, holding his head. 

"What happened?"

"Something with this guy's knife letting out a supersonic high pitch noise that hurts his head."

Tony deadpanned. "Really? That's all it took?" Why didn't he think of that? Movement made Tony look to where he'd seen the human negative land and saw him get up.

"That...was a mistake," Mr. Negative growled. Suddenly, a web hit his hand and stuck it to the wall before he could start charging it.

Peter slowly got to his feet, shaking his head. "That hurt," he muttered. Raising his head, he saw Mr. Stark had joined them.

"You okay, Spider-Man?" Mr. Stark asked, and the masked crime fighter nodded, giving him a thumbs up, but suddenly, he collapsed and screamed, holding his head.

Tony whipped his head around to see the dark man's body glowing with dark light. "We have to stop this if he's going to survive," the billionaire said, worried eyes on the spider. He lifted his hands and suddenly four other parts flew off his suit and they powered up all at once, blasting the man, Tiny controlling the power.

Mr. Negative screamed as he was engulfed in bright, powerful light, his mind overreacting to the power and his body shut down, stopping the dark energy charge.

"Keep an eye on him," Tony told Natasha, walking over to Spider-Man, his shoulders set. "You okay?" He offered a hand and the man took it. The billionaire was shocked by how light the man was and almost threw him. "Whoa....somebody give this guy a sandwich," he called, pointing towards the man in red.

"Ha ha," Peter responded, this time remembering to lower his voice. "You's got this? I need a time-out." He took a deep breath and suddenly cried out.

Natasha's cry followed a second later, before passing before their eyes, and Mr. Negative jumped from the roof. "Nat!" the archer cried, trying to grab the woman, but missed when a web flew towards her, catching the assassin before she could fall from the roof. Clint ran to her and pulled her limp body up, cradling his best friend close to his chest.

"She okay?" Spider-Man asked, his eye goggles looking concerned and also pained.

"She's got a bump on the head, but I think so. I'll take her back to Bruce and get her checked out. I think you should come, too." The spider's eyes went wide at that.  
"N-no, I'm good. Just a light headache, that's all. Thanks, though."

At that moment Tony's helmet started ringing, and he answered it, Pepper screaming into the man's ear loud enough for the group to hear. "Peter's gone!" she was freaking out. "I left him the car, Happy locked it, and when we got back, the door was open and Peter was missing!"

Tony looked at the group, noticing the masked man was gone with a soft curse. "Okay, Pep. It's okay, I'm sure he was just scared or something. We'll find him." He was also starting to get nervous for the boy's sake. "Track Spider-Man," he ordered Clint, Steve and Wanda had just boarded the plane, feeling very useless. 

The archer nodded and flipped open his Starkwatch. "It says he's in the alleyway next to us....I think he may live in that building. He didn't move from there until that guy showed up."

Tony pursed his lips and took off, heading for the alley.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Peter quickly dropped next to Ned, who had waited in the alley for him, phone at the ready. "Hey," the computer whiz said with a nod.

"Hey, I've gotta hurry, but thank you!" He got rid of his suit and was pulling on his clothes when the two boys heard Mr. Stark and Peter cursed, pulling his shoes on just as Iron-Man landed.

"Peter?" the man asked, his mask disappearing, showing a face of worry and confusion.

"What...Pepper is going crazy looking for you!" He reached out and grabbed the boy's shoulders, shaking him a bit. "Do you know how worried she is?"

"Um...Mr. Iron-Man, sir....that was my fault," Ned said with a hand raised. "I came out to see what the noise was, and Peter saw me.."

"That's right! Pepper, Happy and I were at Delmar's, having a sandwich, when that guy showed up! I saw Ned and got scared for him and ran to him, pulling him into this alley to get away from the crowd." Ned nodded to the side.

"Never do that again!" Tony scolded and took a deep breath. "Did you happen to see Spider-Man?" Tony started putting two and two together, but he didn't want to believe what he was thinking.

Peter nodded. "Yeah, he went into that building over there." He nodded toward the bank building and Ned nodded, slowly slipping away to bring the suit into the bathroom, throwing it behind a stall. 

As he was leaving the stalls, Clint freaking Barton busted in, arrow at the ready, making Ned scream, holding up his hands. "I just had to pee," he stuttered. Clint pushed past him and checked each stall until he came across Spider-Man's suit. "Kid! Did you see anyone in here!?" The pudgy boy nodded. 

"I-I saw this guy leaving kinda quickly. Didn't see his face before he left the bank." The archer cursed, holding the red and blue suit.

"I lost him. Apparently he changed and left his suit, and the tracker behind." He left the bathroom, giving the kid another look, shaking his head. That couldn't be Spider-Man. The boy was too short to be him. "Shit," he cursed, stepping into the alley where Tony was holding Peter bu the arms. "I got his suit."

Peter's eyes widened and he groaned internally. Now what was he supposed to do? "Mr. Stark, I'm sorry I ran off..but I thought Ned might be in danger. He's not the most athletic guy in school. He's more into computers than sit ups, if you get what I mean."

Tony narrowed his eyes. This kid is going to kill me. "When we get home, no friends, no games, no television....and.....I don't know what else, I'm new at this." 

Suddenly Peter's phone rang and Tony reached into the boy's pocket, reading who it was. "And no phone! Ha! I'm sorry, Peter's being punished right now and can not come to the phone. Try again in a year," and the man hung up the phone. "Now, march!"

Peter was stunned that Mr. Stark even knew that the word 'punished' meant, but hung his head appropriately and turned, walking toward the street, when he was suddenly tackled into a hug, a woman breathing into his ear.

"Oh thank goodness!" Pepper breathed, hugging Peter tightly for a moment, then pulled away to check him for any injuries, then frowned. "Don't you ever do that again, young man! I thought you had been kidnapped by some...gang or something! Did you punish him?' she asked Tony before looking back at Peter. "You're punished," she scolded him before the billionaire could speak.

Peter hung his head again and nodded. "Yes, ma'am," he mumbled, looking into her eyes with a wince.

"Come on, we're going home. Tony, are you riding with us, or," she gestured toward the man in the suit.

"I can ride with you to yell at the kid some more about how dumb his decision was, and how he didn't think it through." Tony tapped his chest and the nanobots disappeared into his chest piece. "Let's go, shall we. Happy? You have anything to add?"

Happy opened his mouth, but when he saw the regret on Peter's face, he shook his head. "No, I think you two said it all," and they went back to the car.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Martin Li entered the group home nursing a killer headache. It had been going on for a while. He would be doing something, mostly in his office, and then black out, only to come to, usually entering the home again with a nasty pain in his head. He'd been to doctors, had CAT-scans, MRI's, everything...and they all came back negative. 

He was scared, but he couldn't let the kids know. He had to be brave...and maybe call for another guardian to be prepped for taking over for him. Just in case. He hated thinking that he wouldn't be able to help these kids forever, but forever was a long time, and he didn't know how long he had, especially if these headaches kept up.

He walked into his office and let out a yelp when he saw a man wearing a mask standing behind his desk, going through some papers. "Who are you!?" Martin cried, looking for a weapon. But he stopped when the masked man suddenly got down on one knee, bowing his head. 

"Sir! I'm sorry for not being there today! Please forgive me!"

Martin could only stare, when suddenly he felt the tingles again and he trembled. No, not again...he couldn't black out again....no. "Stop it!" he cried, but it was no use. In seconds he was unconscious.

Mr. Negative sneered at the man, labeled his demon. "Where is my other inner demon?" he asked, moving to sit behind the desk, rolling his head to crack his neck.

"Sir....he....your other demon was killed in the blast when the house exploded...he got caught when he was checking to make sure the shipment was ready."

Mr. Negative sighed, rubbing his temple. Was there no good help? "Oh well...I still have you. Go, check the warehouses. I will check the downtown area." He stood and walked out, making sure there were no little children in his path. How he hated those little beasts. But, that was the profession his alter-ego had chosen. 

It had kept him off the radar, until today. He stepped out into the night, walking down the block slowly, no one around. It was time to make his ultimate move....he was going to kill Spider-Man, no matter what it took.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Peter sat in his room, staring up at his ceiling, thinking. What was he supposed to do now? He'd only been in Stark Tower for a day and already he'd been punished and now Mr. Stark had his suit in his lab and was currently taking it apart. He wanted to cry. He'd spent months working on that suit, now he would have to start over...

But, maybe this time he could steal a couple of things from Dr. Banner and Mr. Stark's labs. The he could possibly get his suit! A sly smile came to his face and the boy jumped to his feet and ran out of his room.

When he heard footsteps, the boy panicked and jumped to the ceiling, sticking there. Mr, Stark came down the hall, all attention on his phone, not even looking up, then again, who looks up in their own home? When he passed, Peter let out a sigh of relief and started crawling towards the elevators. "Ms Friday," the boy whispered. "Can you please take me down to Mr. Stark's lab? I need to get something." If he was able to get his suit, and the parts he needed, he would be set.

"Mr. Stark is not in his labs right now, Peter," the AI whispered, the elevator doors opening silently. Peter crawled through them and dropped to the floor quietly.

"I know, Ms. Friday, but I need to get something of mine, plus I need to see if I can possibly take some other things...you know, en eye for an eye, or something?" The elevator started moving and he smiled.

"I do not advise this, but I was programmed to not answer back."

"Thank you, Ms. Friday. I owe you a friend at this point. What do you think? Another AI?" The doors opened and Peter was facing Mr. Stark's lab. And right there on the main table was his suit. But, the goggles were in pieces, and the arms and legs were separated as if Mr. Stark were looking for something. "Oh man....this thing is a goner," he whined. The teen grabbed the spider logo from the table, the only salvageable thing besides that were the goggles, but that would be too noticeable. 

Grabbing what he could of his suit, Peter started looking through Mr. Starks things, taking what he could carry in his pockets, feeling his web shooters and rolled his eyes. He was about to make this so much easier. He made a bag out of webbing and started loading different things inside it, until he had enough to do what he wanted.

Suddenly a noise came from the door and Peter panicked, jumping to the ceiling. Mr. Stark passed under him and went straight to Peter's suit, picking up the goggles. 

"Lordy...how did Underoos even see out of these?" he asked himself, putting them to his face. "Oh good god, was this guy nearsighted?" He put them down and blinked, shaking his head.  
Peter frowned and stuck his tongue out at the man before beginning to crawl across the ceiling, making sure to not make a sound as Mr. Stark ripped his suit even more, making the boy wince. He would so be getting even when his new suit was done...

The teen crawled out of the lab and into the hallway, making sure to keep and eye out for anyone. He'd made it to the elevators when a voice made his blood run cold.

"Hello, Spider-Man."


	11. Chapter 11

Natasha reclined in the hallway against the wall, picking her nails with her knife, her gaze focused on the boy who was crawling on the ceiling. At first she was a little freaked out seeing that, but she let it go for now. "I thought it was you fighting Mr. Li yesterday, but I couldn't be sure until now."

Peter's eyes were wide as he stared at the woman, panic blowing his pupils wide. "Pl-please," he began. "Please don't tell Mr. Stark!" He was shaking now, and the woman felt bad.

"And why would I?" she asked, raising a brow. "I like knowing something he doesn't, makes me feel like he does, superior." She kicked off the wall and stood beneath the boy who's eyes followed her. "Why don't we step into my office and have a little talk," she said with a slight smirk, opening the door to her left.

The teen sigh and nodded, moving into the room via the ceiling until he was in, lowering himself to the floor as Natasha closed the door. "You know that's very dangerous and stupid thing for you to do? Sneaking into the one person's lab who you don't want to be discovered by. And stealing his things," she added with a look to the netted bag.

"I had to go and see what he was doing to my suit," Peter whined. "He destroyed it! Ripped it apart! So, as payback, I thought I would take a few things from his lab in order to make a new one."

Natasha had to smile. The kid had balls, she could admit that. "What kind of suit are you making?" she asked.

"Well, a little like my old one, with a few upgrades, I guess. Maybe working on the eyes..." The boy shrugged, scuffing his foot on the floor. The woman chuckled.

"I would say yes to that. Now, how do you crawl on walls?" She grabbed Peter's hands, her fingers feeling every fingertip, trying to peel off tape or adhesive.

"I don't have anything on me....About seven months ago, on a trip to Osborne labs, I was bit by a spider that had been near radioactive material, making the spider radioactive as well....and well, that caused me." He tried to tug his hands away, but Ms. Romanoff held tight.

"So, you're telling me, you got bit by a magic bug?" She laughed at that. "And what about dodging things seconds before they hit you?"

"That one's a little harder to explain....It's new to me too...along with super strength and flexibility, I'm developing a, well a sixth sense, I guess....Like I said, it's a new power. I don't understand it, but it's kind of like, my skin tingles and my brain reacts even before I think about it and I'm able to dodge things like bullets, arrows...but it's only when my life is in danger, I think." He looked up through his hair at Ms. Romanoff's face.

"Okay, that I can see. But, you need some training if you want to play with the adults," she said, letting go of Peter's hand, but it stuck to her. "Um..." she looked at their attached hands.

"Oh! Sorry, it does that when I'm nervous...." he shook his hand free. "Training? Like target practice or something?"

"Nope. Hand to hand, defensive and offensive. Your aim is pretty good." She went to her closet door, pulling out dresses left and right, before pulling out two gowns; one of a red material and one of a blue. "I can tell you idolize Steve by the colors of your suit. I'm not using these for anything anymore, and the material is very strong, made for protection. I'm sure you can add to that. Let me know what you need from the labs and I'll see if I can get them."

Peter touched the dresses, feeling the silky material under his hand, then grabbed it and pulled. Even with all his strength it didn't rip. Impressive. He stuffed both dresses into his bag. "Thank you, but...why are you doing this? Haven't I caused you nothing but trouble?"

"Yes, you have, but you also saved people, people who are important to me, so I owe you a few. Not telling Tony is just a perk." She smiled when the boy laughed, going to her door and opening it. "Now, get outta here, kid. You're supposed to be punished." 

Peter smirked and ran out of her room to the elevator, Friday already reprimanding him for crawling on the ceiling, the boy making a face when he tried to shush her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Monday morning came and Peter was roused for school by an annoying Irish woman, calling for him to wake. The boy rolled over, moaning out his no and burrowed into his blankets. He'd stayed up late last night, working on the wiring for his new suit, finally crashing three hours ago.

"Peter, I have been told to wake you for school, and if you do not wake, boss will come in and he will not be happy."

At the mention of Mr. Stark, Peter jumped and looked over to his desk, which had scraps of Natasha's dresses on it along with wiring and tools he's stolen. "Okay, okay, I'm up!" he called and rolled out of bed, yawning and stretching. He started putting the things on his dresser away, when there was a knock on the door.

"Peter?" Pepper called, waiting a moment.

"Y-yeah?" the boy answered, hurrying with his desk's cleanup, shoving things in drawers.  
"Just making sure you were really up. Friday said you were, but I wanted to make sure." She frowned when she heard a thud followed by a yelp. "Peter?" she opened the door and gasped, averting her eyes as she saw the teen in his boxers. "Sorry! Sorry! I'm leaving!" she all but slammed the door and walked away quickly. 

The boy was horrified and got dressed quicker than he ever had. and quickly ran into his bedroom to check his face for bruises. Thank goodness for his advanced healing, because after the weekend he'd had with Ms. Romanoff, he was so bruised he'd stayed in his room all weekend, now glad for his punishment.

Timidly he walked out into the kitchen, seeing Pepper blushing, but trying to act as if nothing happened. "G'morning," he said to the group of people at the table.

"Oh, good morning, troublemaker." Clint smirked, sipping his coffee. "I heard we had a runaway." The boy scowled.

"It wasn't like that," he argued, and the archer raised an eyebrow at the doorway, where a very irate Tony Stark now stood.

"Nu-uh, you don't get to argue with the adults. Now you're banished to the kiddy table, go." He pointed to the bar stools along the island and made a shooing motion with his hands.

Peter fought his urge to roll his eyes and went to the table. He heard someone get up and Clint suddenly sat next to him, pushing waffles at him. "We've also got hazelnut spread." he offered as a peace treaty for getting the boy into more trouble. Peter smiled and took a waffle.

"No thanks, this is fine. Thanks." His senses told him to duck the hand, but Peter didn't, making a sound when the man ruffled his curls. "Come on, man...I had these perfect." He tried fixing his hair with Clint giggling next to him.

"Okay, school time," Tony said, grabbing his keys and the boy ran back to his room to grab his bag, making sure he had his homework.

When he ran back into the kitchen, he stopped, looking at Mr. Stark who was waiting for him, keys in his hand. 

"Well? Are we going or not?"

"Wait, I'm confused...are-are you driving me? To school?" The man rolled his eyes.

"Yes, oh smart child. Come on, don't want to be late." Last night Pepper had suggested Tony drive him to school as a way to 'bond' with the teen. He had a feeling that Pepper was going to beg him to let Peter stay longer than the two months, and with how the kid was already doing in his internship, and the skills he'd shown on his computer, he knew he would allow it. Walking to the elevators, he waited for the kid, giving him a lopsided grin when he stumbled over his own gangly feet. "Graceful," he commented as the doors closed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Peter sat in the passenger seat of a very expensive car, sliding down the seat, trying to hide his face. 

"You do realize no one can see in, right?" Mr. Stark asked, looking at the boy.

"O-oh....I didn't know that, because the windows look so clear.." 

"Yeah, it's a new nano-technology. I just invented it last year, actually...and speaking of inventing." He turned in his seat, his hands no longer on the wheel, which made Peter go ballistic, eyes wide. "Oh, don't worry. Friday's driving, aren't you Fri?"

"Yes, boss," the AI answered from the speakers.

"Friday is in everything I've created. But anyway, how would you feel, about becoming my personal. Intern? Hm?" he narrowed his eyes for a second at the boy.

Peter could barely speak at this point, between the shock of Mr. Stark letting go of the wheel, to the sudden question. "I-wow....yes!" he laughed. "I would-love that! But, what brought this on?"

Tony stroked his beard in thought, eyeing the teen. "Well, I noticed your computer skills when you hacked into my computer system-still thinking of a punishment for that, by the way. And I've heard nothing but good things about you, plus seeing you in the lab with Bruce the other day, the idea just came to me." In the form of Pepper, but he didn't have to tell Peter that.

"I'm sorry about the hacking," Peter responded sheepishly. "But, it's kind of your fault that I did it." And he noticed his mistake the minute the words were out of his mouth by the look Mr. Stark gave him.

"Excuse me?"

"I-I take that back," Peter tried, but it didn't work.

"I made those systems by hand, kid. There is nothing wrong with my systems."  
Peter nodded, then looked down. "Well..."

"What?"

"There are a couple of flaws that I noticed....but they weren't big ones! Just, some mainframe weakness on some very important files, but like I said, no big deal!"

Tony sighed. "Which files?"

"What?" Peter asked, flinching when Mr. Stark almost glared at him.

"Which. Files.Kid. A minute ago I couldn't shut you up!" This was exasperating. Why did he agree to this? But, he could feel pride swelling up in his heart.

"Well, one was the suit's protocols. It wasn't weak per say, but it looked like it was rushed. Then a couple of files labeled 'playtime', whatever those were, and-"

Tony held his hand up. "That's enough! I don't ever want you looking at the playtime file, ever. Do you hear me?" That was 'private Tony time' media of him and Pepper, that the woman didn't know he'd recorded. "Ever." He turned away from the smiling teen, clearing his throat. "Okay, so, you're my new assistant, intern, whatever. You start as soon as you come home."

"But what about my homework?" Peter looked at the man with worried eyes and Mr. Stark sighed.

"Fine, after your 'homework'," he mimicked the teen, using air quotes, "you can come be my assistant personal intern. God, between you and Steve I'm going to insane." Outside he pretended to be angry, but inside he was laughing at the kid's face now.

"Oh, and here, I noticed you're eating me out of house and home, which, by the way, is Steve's job, but here's some money for lunch. I doubt you'll be getting free hot lunch from school for two months while with me."

Peter looked at the wad of bills tossed into his lap from the man's wallet. Did Mr. Stark always carry this much around with him? He took a bill and tried to give the rest back, but the man shook his head. 

"No, that's just pocket change." he said without a look, staring in at the road in front of him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They pulled up to the school, Peter quickly grabbing the handle. He was about to get out, but turned and smiled at the once disliked man. "Thanks for the ride, Mr. Stark. I can take the subway back," he offered, not surprised when Mr. Stark shook his head.

"No, I'll have Happy pick you up, seeing as I'll be too busy doing my work alone while you're doing homework."

Peter grinned at his face. "I'll make sure to bug you in your lab while I do it," he cajoled and got out.

"You better! See you after school, kid." Tony took off with a smile on his face. He really liked Peter. But, he reminded him of someone and he couldn't put his finger on it, which was bugging him. Oh well, he thought with a shrug. He had to go home and figure out how the hell Spider-Man was able to crawl up walls like he did.

As soon as Peter was seen getting out of the expensive car, people began to talk and the boy blushed. He'd forgotten the whole press thing Mr. Stark had called on Saturday. Now the whole school knew.

"Hey Penis Parker!" Flash suddenly punched the boy's shoulder hard enough to make Peter wince. "How does it feel to be someone's charity case?" he teased. "Poor little orphan penis, no family to love him, has to rely on others to feel anything. In two month's time, Tiny Stark will dump you back on the curb you came from, where you belong." The bully cackled, pushing Peter to the ground when he walked away.

"You okay?" Ned asked, his hand offered to his friend.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry about Sunday. You were supposed to come over, but now that's on hiatus." Peter kicked a pebble, accidentally using his super strength and made the rock fly off the grounds. He ducked and looked around, but thankfully no one had seen. "I'm just pissed that Mr. Stark has my suit now! I mean, I can't be Spider-Man if the suit is laying in pieces on his lab table!" He kicked another pebble as they walked, softer this time.

"I understand. Well, not really, but it's like this one time, my mom took my Xbox away and hid it in her closet for like a month. That was rough." His friend laughed, making Ned feel better.

"Yeah, we'll call it that. Come on, we've got to get to homeroom." He and the other boy walked quickly towards the class.

"Hey losers," MJ said as she saw her two friends come in, both of them smiling and waving at her. "So, congrats Peter. I heard about your adoption."

Peter balked. "No, no, it's not like that! Mr. Stark just needed a kid to live with him, to show the world he loves the kid's too, or something like that. I'm going back in two months." He looked at the girl and saw anger.

"That is so like Tony fucking Stark. Lead someone on with glittering things, then rip it all away. What an asshole." She went back to her drawing, the look on her face saying it wasn't a nice one now as she scribbled on the paper.

Ned and Peter shared a look before giggling a little bit like children, until MJ shot them a look that shut them up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"So, you're working on a new suit, with parts that you stole from Iron Man's lab, and using parts of Black Widow's gowns...and she knows your secret?"

Peter nodded as his friend broke it down during chemistry while their teacher was talking. "Yeah, basically," he whispered. Looking down at his webbing, he was formulating a stronger substance and knew he'd found the right mixture of things when the stirrer was stuck in the glass. He smiled and then shut the drawer. After class, he filled a soda bottle with his web fluid, smiling at its liquid state as it went in. This was an excellent batch.

With a pep in his step, Peter headed to lunch. He hadn't seen Flash since that morning, not that he was complaining. The bully seemed like he was jealous of Peter...it perplexed him. Why would anyone be jealous of someone without a family, no matter how much free stuff they got? He shook his head and got on the lunch line when he remembered the money Mr. Stark gave him. With a grin, he got off the line and grabbed MJ as soon as she came in, then Ned and pulled them from the lunchroom.

"What's wrong?" Ned asked, panicked eyes looking around for danger.

"Nothing! I just figured, since we have the ability to leave school grounds for lunch, and this," he showed the wad of money to his friends. Ned's eyes went wide, while MJ didn't seem too impressed. "We can go out, my treat."

Peter felt bad about using the money, but if he didn't, it would just sit in his pocket-he really needed a wallet- and that wasn't the best way to keep money when you're a teenager.

The trio walked to a fast food place and ordered, waiting for their lunch, when a woman gaped at Peter. "Excuse me, are you the foster kid Tony Stark took in? Peter?"

The teen turned at the question and the woman's eyes lit up. "You are! You're Peter the foster kid!" She pulled out her phone, as did everyone else in the restaurant and the boy looked appalled and frightened at the same time. Suddenly, MJ grabbed his arm and the bag of food that had arrived and dragged him out, Ned behind him, not responding to any questions thrown at them. 

By the time they ran back to the school, the press were following them, the flashing camera's going off behind them. MJ slammed the gate to the school, smirking at the harpies. "You're not allowed on school grounds, assholes. Go stalk a turd," she flipped them off and dragged a red Peter behind her, ignoring the boy who was apologizing the entire way. 

"Don't sweat it," she said softly. "It's not your fault they're like vultures who go after anything and anyone with a name behind them." She ripped open the bag and stuffed a few french fries in her mouth before the boys could grab their own burgers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

School was finished for the day, and Peter couldn't be more glad. But, as soon as he reached the stairs, Flash was there, pushing him down the last few, making him tumble and scrape his knee. The dark skinned bully laughed with his friends, only to stop so suddenly, Peter had to look. Happy stood in front of them, a hand on his gun as he stared the bullies down. "Did I just see you push him?" he ground out angrily.

"I-it was an accident," Flash tried to lie, only to flinch back when Happy moved, offering his hand to Peter to pull him up. 

"If I ever catch you 'accidentally' doing anything to Peter again, I will personally come to your house, and ask your parents if it's all right if I kick the crap out of you. Is that understood?" Flash only nodded, his face ashen.

Peter walked behind the guard. "Thank you, for that," he said lowly.

"If that kid gives you any more crap, you tell me, got it?" Happy looked back at the boy who nodded. "Good. Now come on, boss doesn't like it when people are late." He brought Peter to a car that reeked with money and got in, but gave the boy a strange look when he opened the passenger door. "No, I don't think so, kid. You're in the back."

Peter made a face, but then slid in the back door, pouting a little bit. "Do you wanna hear what we did at school?" the boy asked the driver, who didn't say anything, instead he simply raised a hand and brought the divider up, waving a little to the boy. "Real mature," he called, giving the man raspberries. Sighing, the boy brought out his text books. Better get started on his homework.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hey, kid, come here for a second." Tony didn't turn around but knew it was Peter coming into his lab. "I need tiny fingers for this." He was holding an electrical magnet over a wire, watching so that it didn't spark or move.

"Hey Mr. Stark how are you-is that Spider-Man's goggles?" He was sad and angry to see them torn to shreds, their wiring bared for the world to see.

"Yes, it is. Apparently, Underoos here, isn't as advanced as I thought, which gives Clint's reasoning for him being a kid plausible."

Underoos? Peter shook his head. "What do you need me to do?" Mr. Stark pointed to an exposed wire.

"Hold that, and keep it there. I want to find out how these things work." When the kid was in place, Tony let the magnet draw out the electrical flow. "That's odd," he muttered. "It seems like these weren't goggles at all....more like sensitivity dullers."

Peter frowned. He'd made those when his senses were suddenly dialed up to eleven and everything was just too much to take in at once. He even wore them to school, explaining how they were to help his headaches. That had been a hell of a month with being teased and beat up.

"Huh. So, this was a waste of time," the billionaire threw the goggles to the side, not worrying that the kid still had them. "Oh well. Clear off a table for yourself and do your homework."

Peter glanced at his goggles, ripped apart on the floor and felt tears come to his eyes. He wasn't the sentimental type, but seeing that got to him. All his hard work, gone in a day, and the man who did it didn't even know what he'd done. He chose a table that wasn't as cluttered as the rest of them and cleared a spot, taking his books out of his bag, starting his work.

Tony kept glancing at Peter, a small smile coming to his face every time he did. Peter was hunched over a text book, scribbling answers quickly, holding his head in his hand like he was bored. Finally, the man gave up working on his suit, going over to the boy. "Move the butt," he said playfully. Grabbing a chair, he twirled it around, sitting and throwing his hands on the back. "What've we got?"

Peter blushed and looked down at the book on the table. "I-it's no problem, Mr. Stark. I've got it."

The man snorted. "I know that. I'm just bored." He looked over Peter's shoulder. "Quantum physics. Pretty strong stuff." Peter nodded and smiled.

"Yeah, but I love it. It's so easy, but there are some questions that still get me. But, the school doesn't have anything more advanced than this." He sighed. 

"So why don't you tell your school?" Tony blinked, looking at Peter like it was that easy, which the boy wished it was.

"There's no one in my school to teach me anything more advanced. I'm flying through chemistry, but, there are still some chemicals I'm too young to touch, so I don't know any of those advanced equations." Peter shrugged, writing another answer down. 

"Hm. Well, as long as you don't hack into the school, it's all good." He winked at the boy. "How are you at mechanics?"

"Well, I'm pretty good." What was this guy, bi-polar?

"Good. I'm working on a new upgrade and I need your girly hands again." The boy narrowed his eyes at Tony, who shrugged. "Sorry, truth. Come on."

For hours they worked on the upgrades, Tony telling stories that made Peter laugh so much his face turned red. Finally, Tony felt his stomach grumble, and looked at the kid, who was busy working on one of the parts, a look of concentration on his face the reminded the man so much of himself at that age. "I'm hungry, you hungry? You're always hungry. I'm gonna order some Chinese." 

With that that man was out of the room. He stood against the wall, head against it. What was he doing? He was getting all emotional after only three days of meeting the kid. He didn't want to say that he was beginning to love the kid, but like was a better word for it. He smirked. He definitely wouldn't fight Pepper if she wanted to keep him here. 

Plus, he would be handy in the lab after school. But, it seemed that Pepper had made the perfect plan. "Man, that woman completes me," he whispered and went to order some food for him and Peter, his mind made up.


	12. Chapter 12

It was the weekend, and Peter was sitting at his desk and working on his new suit. It was coming along great. It had been three weeks since he'd come to live with Mr. Stark, and he was loving every second of it. 

Spending time with the man in his lab, Peter learned he was actually a pretty great guy, no matter how much of an ass he acted. He and Friday talked a lot, too. Mostly about how Ms. Potts would see him and the AI would notice a spike in the woman's endorphins and her stance would become protective.

He loved it whenever Pepper 'mommed' at him, making him drink his milk and things like that. It felt...special. Mr. Stark had been smiling at the boy a lot more often now, too. True he didn't feel the same without being able to go out on patrol, but it seemed like that suited the Avengers just fine. He was surprised they weren't out looking for unmasked Spider-Man right now. But, it was good that they weren't.

Ms. Romanoff had kicked his butt so many times in the past weeks, but it was amazing to move like he could and not worry about anyone seeing him without his suit. She always chose these little places to train that allowed Peter to use his web shooters and be offensive at the same time. She was a good woman, and pretty funny, too. 

"One...more....turn, got it!" Peter clapped and did a victory dance as his suit turned on, the eyes lighting up. "Yes!" He punched the air. "Now, all I have to do is install an AI...." He'd been working with Mr. Stark on how to make an AI. For a school project, he'd told the man, who nodded and basically told Peter all his secrets. Which, Peter used to his advantage, as well as threw in a few programs of his own. It was more than halfway finished at this point, and Peter was very confident it would work out.

Putting on the new suit, it was very baggy, but then he pressed the old Spider-Man logo he'd saved from his previous suit and suddenly it tightened up. Looking at it, he actually felt like a mini-Mr. Stark. The only thing different, he couldn't program the mask like the billionaire was able to do in his own suit. 

So, he had just made modified goggles to dull everything around him when he was swinging. He attached the web shooters to the outside and stood in front of a mirror, smiling at his reflection. "Spider-Man is back," he said proudly.

A knock on the door sent the boy into a panic attack and he deflated the suit, throwing it to the side, then covering it with a pile of dirty laundry. "Yeah!?" he called, stuttering a bit.

"Pete? I came to ask if you maybe want to watch a movie with us?" Pepper's voice came from the door and the boy smiled. 

"Yeah, just gimme a minute, okay?" The woman gave her affirmative and Peter quickly got dressed and put all his stolen tools away. What he walked into was just like a real family, something he hadn't had in what felt like forever. Steve looked over at him and he patted a place in between him and Tony.

"Hey, champ," Rogers called, the new nickname for the boy. "Saved you a seat. There's popcorn, too." He smiled at Peter as the boy bounded into the room and jumped over the couch, landing on the sofa, next to an annoyed Mr. Stark.

"Easy on the goods, kid. This is an Italian import," he muttered, not looking up from his phone.

"What are we watching?" Peter asked, ignoring Mr. Stark, who had poked him in the ribs, making the teen giggle a little.

"Some animated movie," Sam said, both his hands deep in the popcorn bowl. "Clint chose tonight."

"Awesome," the boy drawled with an eye roll. Clint glared and threw a candy bar at Peter, and they started the movie. Somewhere in the middle of the film, though, Peter's lack of sleep caught up with him and he started drifting off, catching himself a few times, before he fell into a deep sleep.

Tony hadn't noticed, too engrossed in his phone, but when he felt something slump against his arm, he jumped and looked down to see the sleeping face of the teen pressed against his limb. Slowly, he moved his arm and the boy slumped even more, this time snuggling up to his side, resting his head on Tony's chest. 

Pepper chose this moment to look over and her heart melted when she saw Tony running his hands through Peter's curls. It had been such a short amount of time, but there was something about the boy that made anyone fall in love with him. 

Once the movie was over and people started moving, Pepper took out her phone and snapped a picture of her two boys. Tony, of course, was on his phone, but Peter was still asleep, a little drool collecting on the man's shirt. "Tony," she whispered, getting the man's attention. "It's getting late. I think we should get Peter to bed."

The billionaire frowned. He didn't know how to do that! He tried to move, but the boy's grip on him got way stronger and Peter frowned. 

"No," the teen moaned. "Dad..don' muv."

Tony's eyes, along with everyone else's, went wide as they stared at the boy cuddled up to Tony. Did he just....The billionaire shot Pepper a scared look, and the woman gave him a sweet smile, coming to his rescue. "Peter," she called, carding a hand through the boy's curls. "I think it's time you went to bed."

"Noooo....five more minutes, Mom..."

At that, Pepper felt tears in her eyes and she pursed her lips together. She and Tony shared a look and he nodded toward their bedroom for later. "Come on, Petey." Tony got up, despite the boy arguing. "Adult says it's time for bed." He leaned down and picked the boy up, groaning with the strain. The boy looked light, but he was dense! Good thing Steve recognized the look and hurried over, taking the boy from his friend.

"His room?" he asked, his booming voice still a little loud even at a whisper. Tony nodded and followed Rogers to the boy's room and watched as Cap put him down. "I'll leave you guys alone," the man said, patting Tony's shoulder with a knowing look on the way out.

Together, he and Pepper said goodnight to the boy, the woman even going as far as placing a kiss on his brow. They watched Peter for a second, then left for their own room.

"Go ahead, say it." Tony threw his shirt across the room, reaching for his belt buckle.  
"I will. I think we should keep Peter." The blonde was pulling on a nude colored teddy. "He deserves a good home, and with the way he gets along with everyone, he belongs here, Tony. I will take care of him, you won't have to do a thing and I'll-"

"Let's do it."

"I'll even...wait...what did you say?"

Tony smiled at her, nodding as she covered her mouth with her hands, tears starting to fall from her eyes. She raced over to him, tackling him into the bed, kissing him deeply.

"I knew there was a reason I loved you," she whispered in between kisses.

"Well, there's another, smaller, Tony Stark you should love," the man joked as he shut the light off, rolling over on top of his future wife.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The restaurant was bustling, like any other night, but Mr. Negative wasn't paying any attention to that. His eyes were on one man in particular. The man held a beer in his hand. His arm seemed like it was injured, or at least like it was healing from an injury. 

Mr. Negative smirked and stepped out from the back of the restaurant, the curtain brushing against his shoulders. He heard a few gasps and a couple of forks hit the plates as people quickly got up to leave, recognizing him from the attack a few weeks ago.

While everything seemed to settle for the Avengers, while in the shadows Mr. Negative was making connections, mainly the man at the bar. "Mr. Shocker, I presume?" he asked, sitting next to the man, holding up two fingers, which the bartender nodded to him and began fixing his drink.

"Yeah, and I'm guessing you're Mr. Negative...was gonna ask how you came up with the name, but I can see why."

The white eyed man smirked and grabbed his drink as soon as it was put down. "Thank you for agreeing to meet with me, Mr. Shocker."

"Herman," the man took a gulp of his beer. "What's the job you want done? Mr. Toomes doesn't know where I am, and I'd like to keep it that way. Last guy to go against him wound up a pile of ash."

Mr. Negative smirked. He liked this Mr. Toomes. "Then I'll be brief. I need someone to help me...take care of a bug problem I've been having." He stared Herman in the eyes.  
"What kind of bug we talking about here?"

"A Spider."

Herman smiled and chuckled. "Boss had a spider problem in the past, as well...He didn't kill the nest though." Herman took another gulp of his beer, finishing it. "I'll help you. But for a price. My services don't come free."

Mr. Negative nodded. "Yes, I've heard. I've also heard that Vulture is in the market for the kids of...toys I have. I am willing to let him have a shipment for your cooperation." 

The two men shook on it, but Herman had to pull away almost as soon as he touched Mr. Negative's hand. "Sorry about that. I have that affect on people sometimes. I'll be in touch, Mr. Shocker....Herman. Take care." Mr. Negative turned and walked back behind the curtain, smiling the entire way. Things were going according to plan.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He'd finished his AI, finally! Peter sat back in his chair with a sigh. It wasn't as advanced as Mr. Stark's AI, but it was something. "Now, what should I call you?" he asked himself. "Ms. Friday, what would you like your friend to be called?" he asked the ceiling.  
"I have no preference, Peter." The boy rolled his eyes. He would have to work on his own AI to have a little more choice than Friday.

"Okay.....How about MJ? No, that's just creepy....Betty? No, she's annoying...." he balanced a pen between his nose and upper lip, thinking. Suddenly, he smiled. "Karen!" he shouted, wincing as his voice echoed in his room. "Ms. Friday, your friend's name will be Karen." 

Turning back to the desk, he grabbed his mask, making sure to speak into the microphone. "AI helper, your name from today is Karen." He pulled the mask on, waiting until he heard a voice in his ear and he couldn't help the smile that spread on his face.

"Yes, Peter," a soft female voice said. "Thank you."

"You're welcome, Karen. Now," he pushed the mask up above his eyes. "I need access to your files, Ms. Friday, is that all right? I need to input Karen's codes."

"Okay, Peter, I trust you." the Irish voice said happily, which made Peter practically glow.  
He logged into his Starkpad and went into Friday's personal files, with her help, and was able to input Karen next to the Irish AI in his room only. When he was done, he looked around. "Karen? Can you hear me?"

"Yes, Peter."

The boy twirled in his chair with his arms raised. He was awesome. A knock on his door stopped his celebration and He got up, opening it to see Ms. Romanoff smirking at him.

"Hey, kid. Ready for your training lesson?" She smirked when the boy nodded. "Then let's go. Bring your suit."

The boy packed his suit into his backpack and followed the red haired assassin. "So where are we going today?"

"To Queens," Natasha said mysteriously. She looked back to see Peter smiling, his face practically glowing. She loved this kid. Suddenly she stopped, Peter almost ramming into her back and she looked up. "Clint? Really?"

"What?" the vent above them asked.

"If you want to find out where we're going, then just ask, don't skulk around in the vents." There was a groan above them before the vent opened and Clint dropped in front of them.   
"So, where ya going?" he asked, blue eyes curious.

"To Delmar's," Natasha lied. "And no, you're not invited." And with that, they both left, Peter mouthing an apology to him.

"At least bring me something back!" The archer cried before turning away, and paused. There was no way they were going to a deli, and he was determined to find out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Natasha parked her bike in front of the empty building, getting off, Peter following.  
"That was awesome! I've been wanting to ride this bike since that night I saw you and Mr. Barton on it!"

That brought a pang of guilt. "Yeah, sorry about that." She walked into the building, pointing to a covered corner. "You can get changed over there. Come at me when you're ready."

Peter paused. "Are-are you sure?" He still asked that question even after so many weeks of training.

"Yes, kid. Now, go." She watched as Peter disappeared behind the corner and turned her back, loosening her muscles. She heard a slight thwip and that was all the clue she needed to dodge the web that was flung at her. It was a second from hitting her back and she smirked. "You been working on your webs?" she asked from her crouching position.

"Yeah, a little. It's a new chemical balance." The teen was hiding in the rafters, using his abilities to his advantage.

"Very nice. The next one might be even quieter." Natasha's eyes were roaming all over the room, seeing a figure in the shadows. "But, I think you should have chosen your suit colors better. I can see you." The figure stopped moving and she heard a sigh.

"Really? I thought I made it dark enough!" Peter attached a web to a rafter and lowered himself to hang upside down. "I tried dying the material, but whatever it's made of is water proof, too."

"Of course. How do you think I swam after being knocked off a boat off Budapest?" She smirked. Good times.

Suddenly an arrow came out of nowhere and cut the web Peter was hanging from, causing him to collapse painfully to the ground. "Ouch! Hey!"

Clint dropped from a window, his blue eyes hard as ice as he ran to Natasha, grabbing her shoulder. "Delmar's, huh?" The two glared at each other.

"You shouldn't have followed us," Natasha said darkly.

"Us? All I see is you fraternizing with the Spider-Man, who may I remind you, is the enemy!" The archer noticed the masked man standing and notched an arrow. "Don't even think about it," he warned.

"You don't understand, Clint," the woman sighed. "I'm not a traitor to the team.Kid?"

Peter took a step back, but then looked at the arrow Mr. Barton had aimed at him, then sighed. He didn't have a choice anymore. He reached up for his mask slowly and pulled it off, watching the archer's face as he did. Blue eyes widened and the man dropped his bow, a shocked expression on his face. 

"I....I knew it!" the man cried with a laugh, pointing at the teen. "I knew your voice sounded familiar while we were fighting that black and white freak!" He smiled. "You're the Spider-Man...oh, wait until Tony finds out! He'll be so pissed! Can I tell him?"

Peter waved his arms quickly. "No! No! You can't mention this to anyone, please! If Mr. Stark finds out yes he will be pissed, but he'll probably send me back to the group home!" Tears came to his eyes. "Even though I don't agree with how he took me in, I don't wanna go back.." the tears now flowed down his face. "I don't wanna leave him...or Pepper...Please....don't tell anyone...please...They've been like my mom and dad..." he sobbed, hunching up his shoulders.

Clint felt like an asshole as he watched the teen break down in front of him. "Hey, hey, don't cry, it's okay." The archer went toward the boy and gathered him in his arms, feeling the boy grip his vest tightly, his face burrowed into his neck. "Shh, it's okay.." He rubbed the boy's back, looking back at Nat, who watched them with a tender look in her eyes. "It's okay..Your uncle Clint is here," he said softly, feeling Peter flinch.

"U-uncle?" the teen asked.

"Yeah, of course! If you can call Tony your dad, and he's the really messed up one, what's so weird about you calling me uncle?" The boy chuckled wetly, pulling away to wipe his eyes.  
"Thanks, uncle Clint," Peter said, the title feeling good coming out of his mouth.

"Hey, hey, don't forget about me, kid."

Peter laughed. "What would you like to be called?"

"How about Auntie Tasha?" Clint laughed, and Peter's eyes glinted.

"Okay, Auntie Tasha," the boy smirked when she rolled her eyes with a smile. 

"Okay, that's enough. Clint, wanna join in the training? We could use your arrows." 

"Wait, what!?" Peter cried. "That's dangerous!" Clint picked up his bow.

"Then you better dodge them all."


	13. Chapter 13 (FINAL)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This has been the hardest thing I've had to write. Being my first fanfic, it's really been a ride, though! 
> 
> A few years ago, I had a major acute stroke that lasted three days, which resulted in brain damage, so I tried something that had the characters already laid out, I just had to get into their minds. Thank you for all the kind words and the critiques that helped me with this story! Thank you all so much again!

Tony was pacing in the living room, Pepper watching him go back and forth until she got dizzy. "Tony, you need to calm down. Peter won't be home until at least three-thirty. What are you going to pace until then?"

The man nodded, putting a hand to his mouth. "Yup, that's just what I'm gonna do. What if he doesn't want to stay here? What if he secretly hates us? What if he secretly hates me?" The man made a face at that. Pepper laughed.

"It's been three weeks. I'm sure that if he hated you, you would have been the first to know. Trust me, Peter's not the kind to kiss your ass." She shook her head, getting up to take her nervous fiancee into her arms. "Just calm down. I'm sure he'll be so excited when you ask him. Let's just watch a movie, okay?" She pulled the man onto the couch and settled him next to her. "Friday play a movie, please."

"Any preferences?" the Irish AI asked. 

"No, just something to keep our minds busy." Soon some action film was playing on the large screen TV, but it was obvious Tony wasn't paying attention.

Every few minutes he would glance at his phone, checking the time, his leg bouncing. Why wasn't it three-thirty yet? He glanced at the woman next to him, who watched the movie with a somber face, but her lip twitched, telling the man she was nervous as well. That made him feel a little better, at least.

They played movie after movie just to pass the time, but it was just going too slow for Tony. Finally, he shot up, startling Pepper, who fell over when her human pillow moved. "Tony?" she asked.

"I can't wait anymore. I'm going with Happy to pick Peter up. You coming?"

The woman smiled and stood, running to her room to get her shoes on and followed Tony out to where Happy had just turned on a car and Tony whistled.

"Hey! Wait, wait, we're coming!" They jogged over to the car, getting in the back as the driver watched with a confused look.

"Everything okay, boss?" he asked.

"Yeah, yeah, everything's fine. You can go now," the billionaire told his guard, motioning for him to go. The man sent Tony a look, but backed out of the underground garage anyway.

The last bell rang and students filed out of the building, Peter following the rush with his friends by his side. He was laughing at something MJ commented on and checked the area for any cameras. When nothing was in view, he stepped out of the building. Ever since that day they'd been chased, he was nervous to be seen. He spotted the black car parked in the pickup zone. "Hey, there's my ride, I'll see you guys tomorrow, okay?" He started him and Ned's handshake, giving MJ a low five when it was done and ran towards the car.

"Hey Happy!" he called, throwing his bag inside and stopped when he heard an 'ouch' and peeked in the car. Sitting comfortably side by side were Mr. Stark and Pepper, who was smiling at him while the billionaire moved his bag with a groan.

"What the hell do you have in there, bricks?" the man complained, checking his face.

"Wh-what are you doing here?" Peter asked, still standing outside the car.

"First, get in here," Tony reached over and pulled the teen into the car, his body falling over both their laps. Pepper laughed as she tried to set the teen right side up. "Second, we're going out. Yes, you can come too, Happy," he told the guard, who rolled his eyes.

"Out?" Peter was finally sitting like a person, grabbing his bag to pull it next to him. "Out where?"

"Well, we're going home first, but I wanted to come and get you, and Pepper just played follow the leader." The blonde smacked Tony's arm. "Ouch. So, what did you learn today?"

The trio talked and laughed all the way home that when Happy pulled in, his face was red from laughter, glad Friday could drive the car for him at some points. 

"Okay, kid. Suit, tie, fancy stuff," Tony told Peter as they got out of the car.

"Where are we going, Buckingham Palace?" said teen asked, brow quirked in a clearly Tony way.  
"Just go," the billionaire kicked Peter's butt playfully, grinning as the boy laughed and ran out of the room.

"You're so good with him. I'm glad we're doing this," Pepper slid her arms around his front, pressing a kiss into his neck. "Seeing you like this makes me want to 'practice' a little before we leave."

Tony's brows lifted and he turned in the woman's arms, bringing her face closer. "I think we'll have enough practice for ten kids," he growled.

"Peter, Ned has been trying to get in touch with you," Karen's voice rang out as soon as the boy entered his room. 

"Why didn't he call me?" The teen pulled out his phone.

"Because your cell is out of power," Friday input, almost sounding a little jealous.   
"Oh shit, it is. Okay, Karen, call him please. Ms. Friday, can you help me out, please? I need help tying a tie." He blushed at that and looked down.

"Certainly, Peter."

"Peter! Peter, are you there?" Ned's voice sounded from the ceiling, which was weird to Peter.

"Yeah, I'm here. What's up?" He picked out what he thought he'd seen Mr. Stark wear once, and the tie to match, then turned to the television to see the AI with a video on pause.

"There's another drug bust near you this time, and I've heard a few comments about those alien weapons again." Ned sounded like he was panicking and also having a geek-gasm at the same time.

"Oh shit...I'm going out with Mr. Stark and Ms. Pepper tonight...I'll wear my suit under my...suit."

Ned gasped. "I need pictures of you in a suit or it didn't happen!" Peter laughed as he stepped into the Spider-Man suit.

"Okay, okay. I promise. I'll have my ear piece in, which has my new AI implanted in it. Say hello, Karen."

"Hello Peter's friend," the woman's voice spoke.

"Whoa! Peter you're like...a mini Tony Stark!"

Peter smiled to himself. "Yeah., kinda." He then started getting dressed, playing the video to tie his tie, but still messing up big time. "I suck at this," he said. Maybe he'd ask Tony to help. 

"Just be careful, spider," Ned called in a concerned voice.

"Of course, yeah. Oh, and Black Widow and and Hawk-Eye know who I am...Ms. Romanoff figured it out, and Clint followed us to our training session last weekend."

"WHAT? Dude, what happened?"

"Well, Natasha heard me call Mr. Martin by his name....you know that was the guy on the roof that day, right?" Ned was quiet for a moment.

"Yeah, I knew. I didn't want to bring it up, though.."

Peter smiled at his friend's thoughtfulness. "Thanks. I haven't heard from him while I've been here though, and nothing on the news. Have you heard anything through the web?"

"Umm...lemme check..." keys clicking could be heard, then Ned's whispered 'oh shit', which made Peter pause. 

"What? What's wrong?"

"Don't get upset, but I just pulled up a police report and there's a missing person report for Martin Li."

Peter fell silent. Mr. Li... "Okay," he whispered. "I'm coming." He ripped off his suit and pulled on his mask. "Friday! It's time for teenage rebellion!"

"Of course, Peter." The window flung open and Peter jumped out, flinging a web out and swinging towards Ned's.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hey, Peter, do you need help with-" Pepper gasped as she saw the window just closing and Peter's suit on the floor. She ran out to where Tony was standing, checking his phone with an annoyed look.

"What's going on with the...Pepper, what's wrong?" 

The woman couldn't speak, tears in her eyes as she pointed to Peter's room. Tony ran and slid into the boy's room. "Friday!" he bellowed, seeing the boy's clothes on the floor. "What happened here?"

"Peter had a desire for teenage rebellion," the AI answered. 

"What does that even mean!?" the man raged.

"It means Peter threw himself out the window."

Tony's face went white and he called Happy and all the Avengers, calling a Peter alert. Oddly, Natasha and Clint were the first to show up, worried look on their faces. "What happened?"

"We need to go," was all Tony said, fear in his voice. Peter was alive, that was all he could tell himself, even though he knew it was impossible for the boy to survive a fall like that.

 

Peter rushed to Ned's, ripping the mask off his face as soon as he got in. "What have you found out?" His voice was watery, as if he'd been crying.

"Nothing yet, except what I've told you. I've been looking, but can't find anything more. But, on the drug bust, there's some talk that all the crates belong to a...Mr. Negative. Who's that?" Ned looked at his friend's face which was white.

"That's Mr. Martin...or at least I think it is. He looked exactly like him. I could recognize him anywhere, and I'm positive that was Mr. Martin!" Peter started pacing, his fingers twitching. "Where was the drug bust?"

"Near fifty-eighth street."

Peter nodded and threw his mask on. "Keep me informed," he shouted as he shot a web and swung out the window. The wind was in Peter's face, but he didn't care. "Karen! Call uncle Clint or Auntie Tasha!"

"Calling Mr. Barton."

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Peter!" Clint shouted, catching everyone's attention in the elevator.

"Peter!?" Tony shouted, grabbing for Clint's phone. "Where are you!? Do you know how worried we were when Friday told us you threw yourself out the window!?" The man had never been so upset. "Tell me where you are young man!"

Peter had tears in his eyes as he heard Mr. Stark yell at him. "I'm okay," was all he said.

"Bullshit! Tell me where you are!"

"I-I'm heading toward fifty-eight street," he mumbled. "But don't come here! It's dangerous!"

"Fine. So you know what, I will come there to tell you in person that this isn't working out, if you're going to be running off like this, keeping secrets and the like." He ignored Pepper's sobbing gasp.

 

Peter almost fell from his web, but caught himself on a building. "No...no, Mr. Stark, please...I would explain if I could, but...I can't."

"Which is exactly why this isn't working out. Stay where you are, I'll give you a lift to the group home tonight. We'll send your things in the morning."

"Okay....but, I have something to do first. Uncle Clint!" he yelled. "I need you and Auntie Tasha!!" then he hung up. Tony fixed enraged eyes on what he thought were his two friends.

"Tony, it's not what you think..." Natasha sighed. She shouldn't be telling the man Peter's secret, but after what he said during their last training session got to her. "Peter thinks of you two as his parents. He loves you so much, even though he's only been here for a small amount of time. And, yes, Peter has a secret..."

Tony was getting angrier and angrier with each word from the red head, but he allowed her to keep speaking. "Tell me. Now."

"Peter's Spider-Man," Clint blurted. All eyes went to him and he shrugged. "He was about to have an aneurysm, so I figured I'd say it."

The billionaire was shocked to silence, looking between the two assassins. "I'm sorry," he finally stuttered. "He's what?"

"Peter is Spider-Man. That boy has been the one you've been shooting your photon blasters at and sending all of us after." Natasha's eyes were narrowed. "Peter is the Spider-Man you almost killed in the park that night."

Suddenly, Pepper was backing Tony against the wall in the elevator, her face filled with anger as she pointed her finger at the man's face. "You shot our son!?" she screamed.

"W-well, I didn't know it was Peter...and wait, did you just say our son?"

"Don't try and use sweet talk to get out of this. You go and you help our boy, or so help me, I will never sleep with you again, Anthony Stark, do you hear me?"

Tony's eyes widened and he nodded. "Yes dear."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Peter made it to his destination in record time, his emotions spurring him on. Tears had been burning his eyes the entire trip, but he knew he couldn't let them fall. He couldn't think that he was a failure and was being sent back. He had a job to do before he could think of that, then he could break down. 

He would go and check it out, then leave before Mr. Stark could get there. Seeing the man would cause tears to come, and that could get him killed. He arrived at the warehouse and landed silently by the window, peeking in. It was a drug ring, and there were the weapons, but there was no sign of Mr. Negative. 

Taking a deep breath, Peter went in, sticking to the roof. He saw a bunch of guys moving boxes, but no one was leading them. "This is so weird," he whispered to himself. He wished he'd been able to make Karen more better now.

Dropping to a beam, he studied the men, but there was no one he knew. Well, at least he knew they all needed to go to jail. He stayed in the darkness, until suddenly a bright flash caught Peter off guard, followed by a hard punch that sent the boy flying.

"I saw you!" a man cried laughing. Peter should have tried to darken his suit, like Ms. Romanoff said.

"Welcome, Spider-Man." Mr. Negative seemed to melt from the shadows, hands behind his back, staring at Peter with contempt. "I was hoping you would show up, given I put that fake report out on the police scanner." He smiled, showing his strange white teeth. "And just like a moth to a flame, you came running to me."

"Moths don't run," Peter said.

"What?"

"Moths. They don't run, they fly. How stupid can you get?" The boy shot to his feet. "Learn the animal kingdom, man." Mr. Negative's face was filled with fury.

"Attack!" the white haired man yelled. Thugs began pouring from the shadows surrounding them, all headed towards the teen.

"Oh shit!" Peter began shooting web after web at the men barreling towards him. "Here, hold this!" he told a thug who came too close, shooting a web up to the ceiling and attaching said thread to the man's chest and letting go. "Who's next?" he asked, then a second later he was punched in the face. "Ok, that was a cheap shot!"

Peter saw a group coming at him, all with weapons in their hands. He shot a web and started running around them, while shooting webbing with his other hand at other incoming guys.

"Duck...duck...duck....GOOSE!" Peter yelled, laughing as he strung the thugs he'd been wrapping up from the ceiling. "Wow, that really is a good web mixture! Uh-oh!" His senses told him to duck, which the boy did, suddenly sweeping his leg out and sticking the thug who attacked him to the floor. "Not nice!"

"I am surrounded by idiots!" Mr. Negative yelled. "Shocker! Kill the spider!"

Shocker smiled and started his arm gun up, sparks flying from it. "With pleasure."  
Peter crossed his arms over his arms, looking at Mr. Martin. "You know, you should learn to clean up your own messes, man." He saw the light before he ducked, trying the leg sweep, but the man was ready for it and slammed down on Peter's knee with a closed fist. The teen cried out, falling and holding his knee.

"Too bad you tried that earlier. I would say learn some new moves, but I'm gonna kill you, so.." Herman brought his arm up, about to bring it down on Spider-Man's head, when suddenly the vigilante quickly snapped a web around the man's legs and was able to drag himself away from him.

Peter was shaking from fear. Never had he faced a man he was ever scared of. He had to shake it off and face down this thug, but Mr. Stark's words kept getting to him. Tears blurred his vision, but he didn't know if it was from the memory of how much those words hurt, or the fear, or if it was both.

"Come out, Little Spider!" Herman called, shooting boxes away with a laugh as they broke under his electric fist. "I just want to kill you!"

Peter glanced from behind the box he was hiding behind. Shocker was just hitting random boxes, destroying them. He leaned back and put his head against the box. It was then he saw something flash on the ceiling and smiled. He had an idea.

As quickly as he could, Peter crawled up the side of the warehouse, trying to blend in with the shadows, but the laughing man wasn't even paying attention, which suited Peter just fine. He crawled along a beam and sat above one of the sprinklers. "Hey! Stupid! Up here!" he taunted.

Shocker's head tipped up and he smiled. "Bad move, Spider-Man," he laughed. Using the boxes as leverage, the man climbed until he was close enough to deliver a shock wave. "Say good-bye."

"Good-bye!" Peter chirped and jumped as soon as the man let loose his attack, hitting the sprinkler system.

"Really? What's that supposed to do?" he asked as the system was turned on.

"You were never good at science, huh? Shocker, electricity and water don't mix, even little kids know that!" No sooner did Peter say that, suddenly the man screamed, his arm set on fire. "Ohh..that burns," the boy said. "Now, onto that other guy."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tony had never flown faster in his life, pushing his suit harder than he ever had. He tracked the others behind him, but his thoughts were on Peter. Brave, brave Peter. His heart ached from the words he'd said to the boy over the phone, now knowing he was diving head first into trouble. How could he have not seen it? 

"Tony, I got a sprinkler alarm trip at a warehouse on fifty-eigth street," Rhodey said said, letting Tony see the file.

"Got it. Let's book it!" The man turned his suit, not caring anymore if the others were following. But, when he heard the Quinjet, he felt a feeling of relief. The whole team had fallen in love with the kid and were willing to protect him no matter what. That's why Peter belonged with them. He didn't care how much money it took, he was going to make the boy an honorary Stark.

Finally the warehouse was in sight, smoke coming from the roof. "Going down," was all the man said before he aimed for the roof, breaking through in seconds. "Peter!?" he screamed through the smoke.

His heart tensed when he heard someone screaming and ran in the direction of the sound, stopping when he saw a man trying to put his arm out, the flames quickly licking at the rest of his body and the boxes around him. Tony put out the flames, watching the smoking man collapse with relief, before his eyes went wide at who was staring at him. "Where is my son?" Tony growled, the suit's eyes going red. 

"I-I don't know!" the thug screamed. "Little fucker just set me on fire and ran off! I didn't see wh-UGH!"

Tony stopped his blabber with a punch to the stomach, the thug passing out. "Never talk about my son like that," he said and stood. "Split up, look for Peter!" Tony said, worried eyes checking his HUD for any sign of life. He was seeing nothing, until something flashed on the roof and he took off.

"What is Peter doing here?" Sam asked, his fear getting to him for the small teen. "It's too dangerous!"

"Peter is Spider-Man," Natasha said before running after Tony, leaving the rest of the group in shock.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Peter skulked in the shadows, searching for his only father figure, before Tony, that is. His heart hurt, but he shook it off. He couldn't let Mr. Martin get hurt, no matter what the man did. "Mr. Martin!" he screamed, his eyes darting everywhere. "Answer me!" The smoke was getting worse. That shocker guy must have set fire to something, making Peter feel bad about leaving him on fire. 

"Mr. Martin!" Peter started hacking, covering his mouth with a gloved hand. Suddenly something moved to his right, and that's when the high pitched noise made Peter cry out, holding his head. It was worse this time for some reason. "K-Karen," the teen struggled. "Noise....cancel..." 

Instantly, the sound stopped, but so did all other sounds. When the boy sighed in relief , what he didn't hear was Mr. Negative running up to him with his black glowing knife brandished. It was only the feeling of something burning his side that got the teen's attention and he cried out, tears running down his face when the man tugged the knife from Peter's body. He glanced at the grinning black and white man. "Mr. Martin...why?" Peter held his hand to the deep wound, feeling hot liquid run down his hands.

Mr Negative was saying something, but Peter couldn't hear him. "Karen, cancel off."

"-and now you die, Spider-Man!" Mr. Martin's whole body began glowing a dark color, and Peter instantly put the noise cancellation on. But, he couldn't keep it on if he wanted to know when and where the man was coming from. 

"Karen, turn it off." The minute he said the words, his head started splitting. The boy wanted nothing more than to curl up in a ball, but he had to stop Mr. Martin. Peter crawled as quickly as he could across the beam he'd jumped to, when suddenly Mr. Negative was in front of him, giving him a pitying look.

"Poor little Spider-Man....you look so lost....I am here to guide you!" The man pulled a sword from his belt-how had Peter missed that? He charged the blade, making Peter's head hurt more, and he cried out, trying not to hold his head. "Good-bye, Spider-Man!!" 

Peter watched as the man bring the black blade back and raised his hand, and when Mr. Negative swung, Peter let loose a a web, catching the man in the face. "Agh!" The man cried out, but it didn't do Peter any good, because the blade still hit its mark, sliding through Peter's chest like butter. Dark energy surrounded the boy's body, making him start seizing, and fall.

 

Tony watched as Peter fell to the ground, the black and white man he'd been fighting wasn't far behind him, the only damage to him was a mess of webbing on his face. Peter though, had a sword through his chest. "Peter!" Tony cried, feeling a rush of fear as he caught the boy seconds before he hit the ground, pulling out the blade, his mask disappearing and he pulled off Peter's mask. "Pete, hey kid...come on..." He gently slapped Peter's face until the boy;s eyelids fluttered. Peter smiled up at him, a bit of blood leaking from his lips. 

"Hey...Dad..." he whispered, in too much pain to even censor his thoughts.

The billionaire sobbed once. "Hey, son."

"I'm..sorry I kept this from you...but...I'm Spider-Man..." Peter rasped, and coughed. "I think I lost..."

Tony shook his head. "No, I'm sorry, kid...I shouldn't have said those things." He smiled. "You won, don't worry. But, you're gonna make it and we're gonna celebrate. There's something I wanted to ask you tonight at dinner, too." He took a watery breath. "Peter, will you become me and Pepper's kid?"

Happiness spread over the teen's weak face and he nodded. "I'd love to....but, I don't think I'm gonna make the party." Already his eyes were closing.

"No, no Pete, you stay awake, do you hear me?" Tony held the boy tight. "You hold on!"

Mr. Negative finally cleared his face, wiping at the remaining webbing angrily, his eyes searching for Spider-Man. His eyes landed on Iron-Man crouching on the ground, holding a body. The man smiled. He'd killed Spider-Man! He silently walked around the two, wanting to see his handy work. 

But, as soon as he looked at Spider-Man's maskless face, he felt something fighting within him. His host was fighting to gain control. "No!" Martin cried, tears falling from his eyes. "No! Peter!" 

Black energy took over the man and he wiped his face with disgust. "You're weak, Li! You can never take me over by force!" He laughed and noticed Iron-Man staring at him with hate filled eyes. 

"I'll kill you," Tony said darkly, getting up, his blasters coming out in full. "You hurt my boy."

Mr. Negative braced himself, when suddenly his head started splitting, and he cried out, grabbing his hair. "No! Li! I will not...allow...you! You can't have it anymore! I will win! I'm stronger than you!" 

The black light was struggling to stay lit over the man's body, but it was slowly receding until Mr. Li stood on shaking legs, panting and staring at Stark. "I...can help him..." he breathed, looking at the barely breathing teen. "Please....let me...help him...let me help...my son..."

Tony scowled at that. "How do I know you won't hurt him more?"

Martin smiled, struggling to stand up. "I can't keep the other me back for long..but I will go along with anything you want...please, bind me after I'm done healing Peter." The pleading look Martin gave him made Tony look back at the bleeding boy, who's breathing had started making a gurgling sound.

"Save him," Stark said, lowering his guns. "Save my son...please."

Martin nodded and made his way over to the boy, who looked at him with dazed eyes. "Mr. Martin," Peter said, blood on his teeth. "I'm so glad I found you..."

"Hush now, Peter....just relax.." Martin winced when he felt his head ripping apart, his other self fighting for control. He had to hurry. The man placed his hands on the boy's chest, over the wound. It was a severe gash, and the blood pouring from it said he'd cut into an artery. "Please work," he whispered. He felt the black energy filling his hands, but this time it didn't feel menacing. It felt peaceful and warm. 

He brought the energy out and pushed it into Peter's body. Under his hands he felt the reparations being done, but they were going quicker than he'd expected. Already the skin was closing under his hands and he sat back, panting, feeling drained, which was not good. He couldn't be allowed to go on in this world with that other person inside him. 

"Mr. Stark, I know I don't deserve to ask anything of you, but please do me a favor....Please look after Peter for me." He smiled up at the man and grabbed the sword. "Take him into your family, love him like a son....be there for him. Please, do this for me?"

Tony could only stare and nod. "I will...but you'll be able to see him," he said. "We have a doctor who has almost the same problem as you..he's still human..."

The Asian man smiled dreamily. "I know, Bruce Banner, the incredible Hulk...I wish I were as strong as he is to go on, but I can't allow the other me, the Negative side of me, loose on the world." He felt the tingles in his legs, and knew he had to hurry. "Tell Peter I said good-bye, and I loved him..." The man closed his eyes and brought the sword up to his head.

Tony tried to stop Martin, but it was too late. 

The man fell to the floor the second he made a move, the long blade sticking out of his head. The black energy that had been crawling up his legs slowly disappeared, the man's face kept changing from white to black, until Martin lay there. Tony lowered his head in respect, the other Avengers surrounding him slowly.

"Holy shit, I thought you guys were lying," Sam whispered as he looked at Peter, unconscious on the ground. 

Tony didn't answer, he just reached down to pick the boy up, happy to hear him breathing. "I'm taking you home," he whispered. "Can you guys wait for the police? I've gotta take him to Bruce." The team nodded, Natasha running a hand down the teen's cheek.

"Welcome to the family," she whispered before she helped move the dead man outside, the other thug was gone when they went to search for him. One out of two was fine, right?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tony rushed flew into Bruce's lab after ordering Friday to open the window. "Bruce!" he yelled, the nano-suit disappearing. "BRUCE!!"

"I'm here, I'm here, what's-Oh my god..." His face was alight with shock. "What-when-huh?"

"Peter is Spider-Man apparently," Tony said, panic taking over the sarcasm. "But he got stabbed. I need you to look at him. I don't trust what Martin did..." He laid the boy on the table and stepped back, looking at the limp teen with worry. The clacking of heels got his attention and Tony turned just in time to catch Pepper as she ran to him, a gasp coming from her when she spotted Peter.

"Oh my baby," she whispered. "Is he okay? Is he alive?"

Bruce had been listening to his chest and pulled back. "He was stabbed?" he asked Tony, who nodded. "All I see is a scar, that's all." He pointed out the shiny skin under the hole in the blue and red suit. There was blood around the scar, but that was all the proof that Bruce had. "I'll keep him overnight, watch him, do some tests." Bruce excused himself from the room, feeling odd being there.

Pepper bent down and kissed the teen on the forehead. "Why didn't you tell us, you silly boy?" she whispered, sobbing a laugh. "We would have done anything for you, you know that?" She carded her hand through the boy's dirty curls.

"I think he's going to find that out. In the morning I'm filing the paperwork to make him ours." He put an arm around his fiancee. "And here I thought we'd be married before we had our first kid. Hm. Amazing how things work out, huh?"

Pepper laughed and pushed him away. "I'm still mad at you for trying to kill Peter...but I guess I can forgive you if you promise to help me plan the wedding."

Tony groaned. "I'd rather have you pissed at me. OOF!" he rubbed his stomach where his fiancee had just elbowed. "Okay, okay, I promise." 

Pepper smiled, knowing in all reality he would forget and spend all his time in his lab, but it was the thought that counted. She turned her head when Bruce came back in, tubes and needles in his hands. "If you don't mind, Bruce, can I spend the night with him? I want to be here when he wakes up."

Bruce smiled and nodded. "Oh, yeah, sure. If you agree to a bed yourself. In your condition, you shouldn't be sitting in an uncomfortable chair all night."

"Wait, what?" Tony looked between the two, confused. "What's wrong with Pepper?"

"Oh nothing...except she's pregnant." Bruce smirked at the billionaire's shocked face which turned to a look of happiness.

"I get to name it!" he cried. "You talked me into getting Peter, I get to name our second kid."

Pepper smiled and laid on the bed Bruce had brought in. "Yes, dear," she said with a pleasant smile.

"I mean it. I get to name the kid."

"Whatever you say, honey."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Peter was nervous. It had been three months since he'd last worn a suit, and he was almost killed. He stood in front of Tony, copying the man's movements as they tied their ties, cinching it up when it was done.

"Good job, bud," Tony ruffled the kid's hair, smiling at the noise he made. "But, I make it look better." He smirked when Peter glared at him. "What? Truth."

They walked out into the compound's living room to see everyone waiting, all dressed up. 

"Ready?" Tony asked, looking at his phone. "We have an hour to get there. Let's go." The team all agreed and they walked towards the elevator, before the billionaire remembered something. Or, someone, as a matter of fact. "You guys go along without me! Gotta get Pepper!" He left the elevator and noticed someone walking next to him. "And where do you think you're going?" he asked the teen, his brow quirked.

"To go get mom," Peter answered with a knowing smile. After he'd woken up, he asked if he could start calling them mom and dad. Of course Pepper was all for it, tears rolling down her face. Tony acted like it bothered him, but deep down, Peter could tell it made him happy.

"It's about time!" a woman's voice called from a bedroom. "I thought you forgot me."

"You? Never." Stark said with a guilty face. "That's why I am personally here."

"I'm here too," Peter said from the door. "And he did forget you." He smirked at the look Tony gave him promising retribution.

"Well, I hope you don't forget I'm as big as a house and need a little help getting my shoes on. I hate flats." Pepper frowned at the shoes on the floor.

"Just a few more months, and our new kid will be here annoying Peter with all her crying when he gets up to do all the changing in the middle of the night."

Peter balked. "Why not you? I have school!" He pushed the shoes towards his mom's feet, helping her balance as she put them on.

"And? You're young, you'll bounce back," Tony teased, leaning in to kiss his wife.

"Enough you two. Tony, do you have the papers?" She made a face as the man made a face. "What would you do without me, I swear?" she opened a drawer and got her copy out. This is why she asked the judge for two copies. 

"Okay, kid. If you're ready, let's go make you an official Stark," Tony said with a clap, rubbing his hands together as he did when he was excited.

Peter's smile said it all as he was wrapped in a hug by his mom and dad. It was good to be Peter Stark, A.K.A. the neighborhood Spider-Man.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! This is my first IronDad fic, so please leave critiques, but...not too harsh, okay? I already finished this and will be posting at as fast as I can.


End file.
